


Life As We Know It

by moonphase9



Category: Drop Dead Fred (1991)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama, Dysfunctional Family, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/M, Family, Fantasy, Fred is obnoxious to start with, Friendship, Gen, Horror, Mystery, Origin Story, Pagan Gods, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2017-08-20
Packaged: 2018-01-15 19:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 31
Words: 93,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1317169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonphase9/pseuds/moonphase9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mickey and Lizzy are a couple. Fred belongs to Natalie. Life is ordinary. But is this what everyone needs? Are they truly happy? Unknown to them, dark forces are growing in the Otherworld and as these things begin to take root in the real world, Fred's brutal past comes to back to haunt him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This is a slow burn piece of work.

A.N.- This is a plot heavy fic, so if you just want LizzyxFred fluff then this isn't for you*. I have no beta, (not through want of asking) so please forgive, but by all means point out, any mistakes. If you could review that'd be great.

****SPOILER****Fred and Lizzy will be a couple eventually in this fic. So please be patient.

Mickey really felt bad.

He loved Lizzy; he really did. She was smart and sweet and very beautiful. Unlike a few months back when she seemed a little...restrained (he assumed her ex-husband had a lot to do with that, but they never talked about Charles now) she now was very much like the girl he knew all those years ago. However, there was something missing. The thing that first entranced Mickey about Lizzy was a slightly crazy wildness she had; she was like a wild horse, beautiful, majestic and a little dangerous.

One of his fondest memories of his adult years (secondary to all his memories of his daughter, of course) was the date they went on. Lizzy had gone and thrown stuff all over the place. It was dumb and pretty dangerous, but at the same time so wild and free. And, unlike when they were kids and he had just watched her in awe, this time, he could join in! He had the strength to finally join in! God, it had been so much fun, they got thrown out and banned, but heck, what did that matter?

After a few weeks of climbing up trees to rescue her, and helping her find a new apartment and job, Lizzy finally agreed that they could begin a sort of relationship that was further than friendship. Mickey had been ecstatic. Lizzy was introduced to Natalie and the two had developed a great bond.

That isn't to say there weren't difficulties. Natalie's mother originally hadn't been happy about Lizzy, and felt like she was being replaced. For the first few months it was like the dreaded Custody Battle they had fought after the divorce. Natalie's mom was always trying to keep Natalie at her house longer than what was allowed, and would constantly complain and bad mouth Lizzy (who she didn't even know) whilst Natalie was there. While he had been pretty disappointed with his ex's behaviour, he was really impressed by Natalie. His young daughter had often been quite an anxious creature, and the divorce of her parents had crushed her young spirit. But recently, just before he and Lizzy decided to try to become a couple, Natalie's feisty nature and resilience had really improved. She hadn't listened to her mother, but seemed to understand that her mother was hurt and angry. Hence, Lizzy and Natalie's relationship had not been compromised.

Then there was the fact that he wanted the relationship to progress more quickly, but Lizzy was happy to amble along. Mickey wanted Lizzy to move in with him; he couldn't understand why Lizzy wouldn't. She was definitely having money problems. The job she now had was as a part time administrator at a local nursery 'Little People's Haven' that was run by an elderly Welsh couple. Though they were kind enough, they didn't have the money or resources to take Lizzy on full-time, or to give her a pay rise. Lizzy didn't ever have quite enough money and having her own apartment, as small and unfurnished as it was, was eating up the majority of her pay. Then, including electric, gas, tax and her TV licence bills (she hadn't enough for an internet connection) she barely had enough to eat. However if she moved in with him and Natalie he could combine his (far more substantial) income with hers, and they could get along nicely. However she would have none of it. She kept saying that she valued her independence too much, and just wanted to be alone for a while, just to see if she could do it. Mickey was no misogynist, and he totally agreed with everything involving 'girl power.' But to him, her moving in was a) practical and b) a sign that she loved him.

But she just wouldn't play ball.

However, even though this made him feel kinda sad, he didn't feel bad about it. No, rather, he began feeling bad some months afterwards. Mickey pushed for them to be together, he spent a lot of time with Lizzy, as much as he could. Inevitably, they got closer emotionally. However, it wasn't quite the relationship he had expected.

After leaving their neighbourhood as a child, Mickey had been distraught at the thought of never seeing Lizzy again. As he feared, his life which had once been so full of vibrant colour faded into a black and white world with only shades serving as variety. Life became boring and Mickey was boring with it. He got older, went to school, did his homework. He grew up and got a job. He had a girlfriend who he started dating in his first year of college. They got married after graduation. He had a kid and they all settled down. It was all so standard and boring. All the while, Mickey would dream of Crazy Lizzy and all the exciting things she would be doing, He imagined her being the kind that attracted loads of boys, that would go on to travel around the world, get some really cool job. Basically, live a life less ordinary.

The divorce was actually the first step to setting himself free. Most people hated the idea of divorce, but Mickey really did it would be the making of him and Joanne. Joanne, his wife, did not. The divorce left her angry and resentful; she really had wanted it to work. But Mickey knew it wouldn't. They had gotten together too young. She had been his only girlfriend, so he had experienced nothing else. And they were far too different. Joanne was an ex-debutante, the daughter of a Mayor and a Headmistress. Joanne herself went on to be a college professor in history and it showed. Her long red hair would be coiled up in a lavish, intricate bun, her thin lips a deep red, her skin white from the lack of going outside and her thin body was often clad in a long pencil skirt and a button up shirt completed with a sensible, but classy, pair of high polished shoes. She was in every sense a young, sensible professional, a yuppie, a working mom, a modern day super woman.

When she had finally agreed to a divorce she had screamed at him that she would 'give him time to get over his stupid mid-life crisis, even if it was at the detriment of their daughter.' But Mickey knew it wasn't a mid-life crisis. When he decided that he needed a divorce, he had been sitting alone in what had been their kitchen. Natalie was tucked up in bed and Joanne was missing, doing a late shift at work as usual. Mickey was feeling kind of neglected. But worse still, meditating on their relationship, Mickey found that he wasn't pining for her company. He actually preferred his friends or work mates, but even her company would do because he was so lonely. He realised that he hadn't loved her for years, and possibly never had. Maybe what got them together originally was little more than a crush (he had always loved powerful, driven and passionate women) and maybe they stayed together because that had been the 'right thing to do.' Maybe their relationship was nothing more than habit.

Then looking to his future, Mickey saw before him endless weekends of cleaning the car out, of vicious whispered arguments over his wife never cooking and always staying out late, of excruciating dinner parties with people they didn't like but felt compelled to impress, of Christmases spent with the in-laws who were never happy with their daughter marrying someone so inferior. Mickey would always be grateful for the blessing that was his daughter, but he just couldn't stand it anymore. Looking around, their pretty little house in their pretty little cul-de-sac in their pretty little suburb suddenly felt like a prison. The ring on his finger suddenly seemed like a constant smirking reminder of his entrapment. His wife was a stranger he was increasingly beginning to resent, his life was the equivalent of a drawn out, miserable ache and his daughter wasn't enough to base all his happiness on.

The thought of Lizzy and her wild freedom returned and he made his decision. He would be like Lizzy, he would throw caution to the wind and for the first time in over twenty years he would finally live.

Of course, when Lizzy came back into his life he had seen it as a sign from the Powers That Be. And it had been awesome. Everything was new and interesting and exciting. Lizzy was nothing like Joanne, she was polite and awkward, she was small, with big doe-like eyes, her short bob and her childish clothes. He never felt intimidated by her but he was still awed by her beauty and charm. He never felt stupid around her or like he wasn't good enough, even when she had been fighting so hard to get Charles back.

However, as the months of dating wore on, Mickey began to realise that while she wasn't Joanne, she wasn't his idealised version of Lizzy either. As said before, one of his fondest memories was their date at the restaurant. What Mickey hadn't realised until recently was that Lizzy had not enjoyed that date. On the contrary, she had been mortified. All her crazy antics were not her own, she had insisted in later conversations, but Fred's.

Lizzy was good with Natalie. They got on well, but their relationship was that of a favourite aunt and niece, not of sisters or friends. Lizzy was, in every aspect an adult; she was level-headed, she had real problems like bills and her appearance. As these real life ordinary issues came to light, Mickey told himself that it didn't matter. He had been idealising her for twenty odd years, of course she couldn't live up to his standards.

But it was worse than that. Mickey felt that they were not in a real relationship. They never really argued or got passionate. It was all very...tame. They just ambled along together, like two friendly acquaintances, too unfamiliar to actually fight or argue like a normal couple, but familiar enough to feel too embarrassed to simply stop calling one another so often.

A year after meeting her and them deciding to give the relationship a go; after pushing and pushing for the relationship to be more serious'; after introducing Natalie to Lizzy; after upsetting Joanne, Mickey was horrified to find that he did not want to be in a relationship with Lizzy anymore.

xxXXxx

Janey and Lizzy sat sipping coffee in a swanky new Coffee Shop just off Main Street.

"So, how are things with Natalie's mom? What was her name, Jodie?" Janey queried, peering at her mousy friend.

"Oh, erm, well things are a little better," Lizzy replied anxiously. She pulled at the bottom of her shirt and took in a deep breath. "And I'm sure thing will get better. And it's Joanne. Natalie's mom is called Joanne." She flicked back her hair and beamed happily. Janey returned it, pleased her long-term friend was recovering well from her trauma with her ex-husband and mother.

"So she isn't whispering in her little girl's ear anymore? No more stories about the mean raven-haired witch who stole daddy?"

"No," Lizzy said laughing a little, though it really wasn't funny. Joanne had actually told her daughter a bedtime story involving those aspects. It was sad really, the first time Natalie got a story from her mom and it was nothing more than a cheap shot at Lizzy. "But you know Natalie never really fell for it any way."

"I know. She's a sharp kid." Janey remembered back to the first time and so far only time she met Natalie. She had never met Mickey, but she had met up with Lizzy one day and saw the blonde haired kid hiding behind Lizzy's legs. Lizzy explained that Mickey had to go to work for an urgent meeting, and she was babysitting.

Natalie was an odd child, that was for sure, but Janey was odd, and so was Lizzy, so to Janey being odd wasn't a bad thing. It was just another aspect of someone's character, like having red hair or green eyes. The little girl had often seemed to be in a world of her own; excitedly talking to someone she could not see. She and her invisible pal mostly kept out of the women's way, but they could hear excited shrieking and footsteps up stairs. When they decided to go check on her, they saw most of the landing was in disarray. Natalie was safe however, red cheeked, out of breath and very happy. The mess was nothing that couldn't be tidied away, and Lizzy didn't want to tell off Natalie, she said that if anyone caused the mess, it was Fred. And Janey accepted that. However, Natalie had never confirmed it was Fred who she played with. She refused to tell any of the adults her friend's name.

"Fred helped her I think," Lizzy said bringing Janey out of her thoughts.

"Yeah I was just thinking of him." She replied. "So do you still see him, or get glimpses of him?"

"No, he just plays with Natalie."

Janey detected a slight wistful note in Lizzy's voice, "hey," she warned, making Lizzy look at her with wide eyes. "Don't forget all the trouble he caused! Fred is clearly designed to keep small children happy but put him in the real world with adults and..." Unable to articulate her thoughts into words, Janey flayed her arms around a little, a physical description of the chaos Fred managed to cause.

"Oh, I know," Lizzy replied quickly. "Gosh I remember all that craziness with the boat, I'm sorry Janey, and the doctors and the restaurant. Boy oh boy, it was too much for me, you know?"

"Well, everything did turn out alright. I mean the boat situation went well despite the temporary homelessness and Mickey had fun in the restaurant."

Lizzy rolled her eyes, "I think Fred is a bad example on Mickey. The other day, Natalie went next door pulled up all of Mr. Grangers flowers and then threw them at him windows! The poor guy, he had spent months working on them. Natalie said that 'her friend' had said that evil things were in the house and that the flowers were play pretend bombs." Lizzy didn't mention that Natalie never said 'evil things' but 'an evil old wanker' instead. "Really, she should have been told off. I mean, c'mon Janey, she can't grow up thinking you can annihilate people's gardens. And what if there were rocks or stones in the mud? She could have smashed a window. Anyway, when Mickey found out, he just laughed and changed the subject." Lizzy shook her head and sat back. "Her mom is too strict and never allows her to do anything, but I swear Mickey is too easy going, it's as if...as if..." She blushed and trailed off.

Janey knew she needed to carry on, "as if what honey? Tell me."

Lizzy looked to the side guiltily before leaning in. "It's as if," she whispered, as though Mickey was hiding in the small bush behind them, "it's as if he doesn't really care about the kind of person she's going to grow up to be. I want her free and happy, but I don't want her to be too much like Fred."

"Wild and out of control?"

"Exactly.

Janey observed Lizzy closely for a moment. Being a good friend is a hard thing to do. Being a good friend means sometimes telling someone things that might hurt them. And when you are friends with someone as emotionally fragile as Lizzy, it was tough to know when to say something and when to hold back. In any case, Fred had, to a degree, Janey's sympathy.

"What is it Janey, you're giving me that look?"

"'That' look?" Janey raised her eyebrows in playful innocence making Lizzy grin. "Yeah, that psychiatrist-come-slightly-disapproving-Vicar look. What do you want to say?"

Janey sighed and leaned forward being careful with her mug of coffee. "Lizzy, do you think you are basing Natalie and her situation too closely to your own childhood? Natalie has a lot of things in common with your five-year-old self, but her situation isn't the same."

Lizzy was silent, but eyeing Janey cautiously.

"What I mean is," Lizzy's friend continued patiently, "is that maybe you are basing Mickey on your own father. Your dad, as kind as he was, ultimately let you down." Janey shrugged and leaned back. "The men you have gone for before Mickey have always been stern, macho men who treated you like dirt. But then Mickey is different, he's kind and soft, like your dad. Maybe you're worried that, unlike Charles for all his faults, Mickey will be as laissez-faire as your own father. You aren't worrying about your own abandonment anymore, but you are projecting all your old anxieties on Natalie and Mickey."

"Well," replied Lizzy slowly, as if mulling over each word carefully. "If I am what can I do? And why would I be concerned about Fred's influence also? He was my saviour as a child."

"Therapy, Lizzy , that's what you can do. Oh don't give me that look! It's alright, lots of people have therapy nowadays and it isn't going to end with you being locked up in your old bedroom again, honestly!" After rolling her eyes, Lizzy fixed Janey with an unconvinced stare before sipping her coffee. She hated arguing with people and was more the passive-aggressive type.

Janey continued, "if you get therapy, it gives you someone to talk to, to reason out your problems with. It'll be like when you worked out your issues with Fred's help, only this won't be destructive in the process." She sipped her coffee before continuing calmly, "besides you are worried about Fred and his influence on Natalie. Which is reasonable," Janey remembered back to when she saw her friend sopping wet, her hair half cut off and her admission that the house boat had sunk. Yep, it definitely reasonable to be wary of Fred... "he was a help when you were a child, but it didn't help things between your parents. It wasn't a cause, I know, your parents were a mess before he arrived-"

"They were the reason he came in the first place."

"Yeah, I know. But what I'm saying is Fred didn't help. So as an adult, you worry about him." Janey shrugged. It was difficult keeping up with Lizzy about Fred. If she criticised Fred, Lizzy would leap to his defence. If she ever said anything positive about Fred, Lizzy would grumble about all the madness he caused. Janey knew this was because Lizzy didn't know how she felt about him herself; Janey was sure, with all the knowing of her amateur psychology, this was all to do with Lizzy's ambiguous relationship with her parents."You're afraid that you and Mickey will repeat your own parent's mistakes, and that Natalie will suffer."

As Lizzy's shoulders slumped and her eyes looked miserably down at her cooling coffee, Janey patted her hand in a grandmother fashion.

"Therapy, Lizzy."

xxXXxx

Running on bright pink clouds, Fred and the others began laughing hysterically. This was a very serious situation, yet they just couldn't help it. It was in their nature. Anything serious got laughed at. And so did anything funny. Well, basically anything was funny to them- even possible death.

And right now death wasn't just a possibility. It was likely. Which is why they were running as well as laughing.

Ah, running.

Fred loved running. Whoooo! Faster, faster, faster! It was like running was the physical re-enactment of what his brain was going through on a constant basis. He hardly ever slept, or ate, or rested, or stayed still. His mind whooshed along all the time. Everything was colours and lights and noise and fun! Fred loved the Kids of course, but it was so nice to be able to move without worrying about a small human child he was leaving behind (or unintentionally injuring them by running them over.) Yep running, the wind in his hair and face, the whirl of colours around him, the deadly creatures on his trail... ah...running!

He and his team mates spread out, causing angry screeches of giant deadly birds behind them. Leaping off the clouds Fred hit the ground running. The landscape looked like the place every children's TV character seemed to live; pink, fluffy clouds contrasted horribly against a perfect blue sky, lush green rolling hills covered in flowers which were lollipops and short grass, and the occasional yellow path, which Fred ignored. The ground was soft, a little like a bouncy castle. Fred resisted the temptation to gambol down the hill. He definitely would be caught and killed if he did that. Stifling a giggle and trying not to be afraid he hurled himself forward whilst simultaneously beginning to Fade. It was the first time he ever tried Fading whilst still moving. It had never occurred to him to try it before. But then, his life was on the line here. While Fred hated the idea of dying and was a coward as a result, he did admit that being threatened with death had managed (amazingly) to improve his already impressive creativity. First time for everything eh? Fade...fade...c'mon Fred...fade...

His hair brushed forward as giant wings beat the air behind him...ah they were catching up. The thing squawked, its proximity so close that the loud screech nearly made him fall over in shock and pain. Just a bit further, just a bit further and he would be safe...

Fade...fade...

Green light flecked with glitter began to glow around him, clouding his vision.

Fade...fade...

Natalie was sitting calmly in the back garden when Fred suddenly came running out of nowhere and went flying straight into the garden hedge.

"Fred!" She called happily. His legs, the only thing showing as the rest of him was submerged in leaves and branches, flailed about a little (much to her amusement) before Fred finally righted himself, turned, grinned and ran up to her. She held her arms out for a hug, but of course, he didn't hug her, he just knelt down by her side and said, "alright Nit-face?"

Natalie, like many small children, seldom said anything, but related her thoughts more often in her expression. She stared at Fred, analysing his face, before smiling gleefully. He returned the grin and, a little smugly, tapped a pocket on his childlike dungarees. Natalie's imagination had changed Fred's outfit ever so slightly from when he had belonged to Lizzy. He still looked like an adult in a child's clothing though. "I have a gift for you," he announced. He watched Natalie smile and jump a little in excitement before pulling out a long silver necklace complete with an emerald jewel. Natalie stared at it in amazement. It was like something a grown up would wear! She pointed at herself anxiously.

"Yep, it's for you," Fred nodded emphatically, before placing the necklace over her head. "However," he leaned close to her conspiratorially, she leaned towards him, placing her ear near his mouth, "you must keep it a secret!" She nodded. "I don't want anyone to steal it from you. But if someone does get it, you must say, "Drop Dead Fred gave it to me. It's just a present!" Can you do that?"

"Drop Dead Fred gave it to me," She repeated, following his mouthing closely, "It's just a present."

Blessing her with a rub on the head and telling her she wasn't at all bad considering she was female, the pair ran off to play hide and seek. After twenty minutes, Fred completely forgot that he gave her anything at all. Such was his fragmented, childlike mind. He'd remember, when he really had to.

 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************  
There is a place that is both far away and very close to you. It is where all the Other live. And the place has many names, but for now let's call it Elsewhere.. Elsewhere was split into two places. One was ruled by the Ljósálfar. It was bright and colourful and the souls of dead children liked to rest there. The elves and fairies used it as their abode.

The other was ruled by the Dökkálfar and this place was the opposite. It was dark and cold and plain. No souls or spirits went there is they could help it.

Some would say it was heaven and Hell. Or Elysium and Hades. Or Asgard and Ginungagap. In this dark place, something deep within its bowels began to stir.

It was waking up. It was hungry and angry.

Slowly it began to uncoil itself, becoming self aware. Around it its small minions also began to rouse themselves. Their Queen was awakening. And she was hungry. Hungry and angry.


	2. Annabella

Annabella preened in front of the mirror. Carefully she smoothed on her rouge lipstick. Then she added a fine layer of lip gloss. She re-applied her eye liner and added an extra layer of mascara. She tidied up the blusher on her cheeks and checked her face and neck to make sure her skin tone was equal. Finally she added some conditioner to her hair, a little hairspray for gloss and to hold it, and then some moisturiser on her hands. There, she had her war paint on. She practiced a few grins in the mirror before stepping out of the stinking public toilets into the Chucky Cheese. A few toddlers ran past her screaming. Their faces were covered in face paint smeared by snot and drool. She shuddered. Why would anyone want children?

She was only here because Stephen, her new beau, was determined for her to meet his children. And Stephen was rich, powerful and handsome; she would be a fool to refuse. Annabella was vain and self centred but she wasn't naive. She was going to be thirty one in just a few months. Yet she was still unmarried, and her trust fund was all but spent. No way was she going out to get a job; she wasn't one of the proletariat! She was beautiful and of good stock; it should have been easy for her to snag a rich husband and live out the rest of her days as a rich socialite and hostess. All her friends had managed to do as such. But for some reason, Annabella had struggled. She could find rich men, or handsome men, but they were almost always love cheats, already married, unable to commit, on the verge of bankruptcy or secretly bankrupt and one was in prison for embezzlement.

For a short time Annabella had lost herself and in a fit of depression and desperation, had tried to get a job as a model. However, the hours were long, the searching for work tireless, she hadn't appreciated criticism or all the orders photographers shouted out and, as at this stage she had been twenty-five, she was already considered 'over the hill'. It had been a mortifying experience.

She had then settled on that ridiculous car-salesman who was separated from his crazy wife. However, it still didn't work out, even though she had lowered her standards so much. First of all, he lied to her, saying his wife was weak, small, mousy and generally pathetic. Annabella had met the wife (she couldn't remember her name) once; she had been a bombshell. The wife was wearing this tight little dress (it was a stupid colour, but still) and basically threw herself on Charles! Annabella had been so furious that she had such stiff competition! Then, the final thing that destroyed whatever relationship they had was when he went back to his crazy wife, doing a sort of Bertha-in-the-attic by keeping his wife locked up at home and high on pills. Annabella did a Jane Eyre and got the hell out of his life quickly.

The last she heard, his wife had an overdose which resulted in her passing out, waking up, wiping her boogers on Charles' face and walking out of his life cackling like a witch the entire time.

God she was glad she was out of that mess.

Still, she was very aware that Stephen was her last chance of money and marriage. They had hit it off at a birthday party held in Santa Monica. He wasn't that good looking, was ten years her senior and only a bank clerk, but he was stable and seemed sweet enough. He had a Blue Lagoon, she had a Sex on the Beach and together they spent the evening laughing and talking about their families and crazy past relationships. Under the guise of general conversation, she gleaned some important facts. Stephen had been married, but was recently divorced. The divorce had been bitter. And three kids were involved.

Three kids he doted on and she met today.

Moody fourteen year old Sacha, a little emo Tim Burton fan, eleven year old Ke$ha fan Becky (Annabella instantly despised the little girl as her face was covered in freckles) and last but not least three year old Andy who, like all toddlers, had a god/tyrant complex.

When they first met, they had just stared at her and she had stared right back as if looking at another species. Annabella did not like children and they did not like her. It was just the way it was.

Had Annabella known what was going to happen to them in just a few hours time, even she would have had the decency to be kind.

But she didn't know.

"Oh, so Sacha," she grinned a fake grin at the oldest boy, who only scowled in response, "how is school?"

"It sucks."

Her face froze and an 'oh' was all she could muster. Sacha bit into his pizza savagely, still glowering.

"Don't you like your pizza Anna?" Stephen looked concerned.

She giggled and tugged at one of her curls (getting angry looks from the children as she did so.) Looking down at her pizza slice she did all she could not to throw up then and there. The dank bread was floating the almost luminous orange grease that was oozing out of the fake, stringy cheese.

Seriously, the things she did for love. Oh well, she would have to go native for at least today.

Gingerly she picked up her pizza, the rank, soggy bread base sticking on her fingers, and she took out a small bite. As she pulled away, all the piled on cheese and various meats and peppers came off with it, slobbering down her chin.

"That's more like it!" Crowed Stephen and she wiped her face furiously. The children smiled nastily.

God this was humiliating!

After what seemed forever, the meal finally ended. The two oldest argued amongst themselves, and the toddlers wiped his dribble and left over food in patterns over his portion of the table.

Annabella looked up at Stephen, making her eyes as big and wide as possible. "When are the children going home, lover?"

"What? Don't you like them?" He sounded panicked.

"Of course I do," she batted her eyelashes, "they're adorable, but I kinda wanna be all alone with daddy. I'm selfish that way." She shrugged and grinned at him.

He had a blush and a silly grin on his face. (Neither of the adults had noticed that the two oldest had stopped arguing and were watching the scene with jealous eyes.) But before he could say anything, his mobile rang.

He answered it immediately; Annabella had long learned that guys would never ignore a phone call for her, no matter how attractive she was. It got her down but there wasn't anything she could do about it; such was the curse of being a trophy girlfriend to workaholics.

"Yep. Oh hi honey."

Honey? Must be the ex wife. Why did he still call her by a pet-name?

The children had all sat up and were watching tensely. She smiled at them but they ignored her. That was fine by her. She didn't like them anyway...dirty little things...she never liked kids...

"Oh...oh...well why don't I have them?"

Now Annabella sat up.

"No I mean...what's the point of taking them all the way to their aunt Sally? My place is closer. It'll be fun. Ok. Ok. Hahaha. Yeah, it's fine. Ok, have a nice night. Well, you won't but...you know. Ok bye...bye."

He hung up and grinned at his hell spawn.

"Guess what kids? You're staying with daddy tonight!"

They all cheered as Annabella felt the colour drain from her face.

"And so is Annabella!" He crowed. That killed the cheer. The children looked back at Annabella. Like when they first met, their faces were equal pictures of horror and disdain.

xxXXxx

Annabella was livid.

In the car she sat in a furious silence as Stephen sang 'one hundred green bottles' at the top of his voice. The toddler joined in, but Sacha and Becky were as sullen as Annabella. If Stephen noticed he never said anything.

Stephen's apartment was swanky and cool and sophisticated, just as Annabella liked them. It was high up in a sky scraper with large windows revealing the city sky line. It was beautiful. The interior was clean, clinical and all painted white.

The thing that ruined this apartment was his children's bedrooms. Even though he only had them every other weekend, he still let them have their own rooms. It was absurd.

Even worse was the fact that they were hideous.

Becky had this room that was painted a lurid pink that almost blinded Annabella when she had first snuck into it. Across the walls were glitter butterfly stickers. It was sickeningly sweet and far too cute for such an ugly little girl

"I bet their mother is hideous," she smirked to herself. "I bet she's a typical soccer mom, all chubby with frizzy hair and always wearing a pull over to hide her fat belly."

Sacha's bedroom was painted in military green and covered with clothes and comic books. It always stunk.

And finally there was the nursery for baby Andy. Granted that was kind of cute. It was a pale yellow, with little farm animals decorating the walls. However, as soon as she spotted the diaper changing board and diapers, she was instantly disgusted.

She took off her high heels at the door and looked over at the brats. Becky and Sacha were whispering. Both looked at her. She put on another fake smile, though she could feel it breaking and becoming less convincing as she was feeling pretty strained by this point.

"What are you two whispering about?"

"None of your business," sneered Sacha.

"Yeah. Your shoes are ugly," continued Becky.

Annabella blinked. "Well," he whispered, "aren't you brave now that your brother is being rude to me?"

They both looked at little uncomfortable and shifted slightly. But Sacha was unrepentant."Our mom is way better than you. She was right about you, your nothing but a Barbie doll."

"Maybe, but daddy seems to like this Barbie." She sneered at them. "Besides, you like Barbies too, don't you Becky?"

Becky turned a furious red.

"I've seen them all in your cute, little pink bedroom. You and I will no doubt be best friends!"

"I hate Barbies!" The girl cried. "I grew out of them years ago."

Annabella simply shrugged as if to say 'whatever you say.' Then she grinned nastily as she brushed past them. It was risky openly being cruel to them, they might tell Stephen, but Annabella didn't care, that little defeat of theirs was worth it. Besides, she had tried to be nice. They started it.

Despite all the pizza they had guzzled, the children insisted on eating ice cream before bed. Then they went on and on about watching some dumb film. Stephen indulged them completely. Annabella sighed and looked at the time. It was half ten. Shouldn't they have been in bed already?

"Daddy, daddy, more ice cream please?"

"Sure Becky honey."

Michael went into the kitchen and Annabella leapt off her seat after him.

"Michael, don't you think they should be in bed by now?"

He looked at her with a quizzical expression. "What? No way. Look, it's the holidays, there having fun." He kissed her forehead, "they're meeting you."

"They've met me," she hissed, her frustration getting the better of her, "six hours ago! Michael, please, they need to go to bed. I need to go to bed!"

Stephen, who had been searching the freezer for ice cream, turned back towards her, this time his face was stony. "You know, I never thought you and my ex would actually have something in common."

Annabella bristled; she had only heard awful things about his ex-wife.

"She never let them have any fun either!"

"Well," Annabella felt like a total traitor already, "maybe she had a point. It's late Stephen."

"You don't like them." He declared. "You don't like my kids."

"I do!" she lied. "I do, I just-" Annabella sighed and put her head in her hands. Her eyes itched. She gave up. "I'm sorry baby. I do like them. They're adorable."

"We're out of ice cream," he interrupted her and again she swallowed her growing anger. "I'm gonna go the local shops. Stay here and watch over them."

"But-yes ok..."

Stephen kissed each child before leaving.

They stared at her as she stood in the door way of the kitchen, watching them in turn.

"I think Andy needs to go to bed." She gestured towards the toddler.

"His fine!" Barked Sacha aggressively. "We heard dad, we're allowed to stay up."

"Look at him!" Cried Annabella. Andy, being only three years old, was already half asleep, draped across the settee. "He needs his bed. Would your mom let him stay up this long? I'm not being mean, I'm just being...real."

There was a moment of silence. Annabella had shocked herself. She really wasn't being mean. She was genuinely concerned. She looked at the coffee table laden with sweets and ice cream. Surely they were going to throw up and some point tonight? And she was damned if Stephen expected her to even help cleaning it up. Look at all the junk food they had eaten! It was a wonder they weren't obese.

"Maybe he should go to bed," muttered Becky picking Andy up.

Annabella smiled, feeling a ray of hope. She reached out to take Andy out of her arms but the girl turned away from her. "I'll take him," she insisted, despite being so small, and Andy was clearly too heavy for her. Annabella scowled. Fine, let her struggle.

She turned back towards the settee to see Sacha glowering at her. "What? What is it?"

"You is what!" Sacha retorted. "My mom and dad will get back together, so you shouldn't bother wasting your time!"

"Oh," she laughed cruelly, making Sacha flush with anger, "I thought this was what today was about." She sat down on the chair opposite him and crossed her legs, grinning the whole time. "Look kid, I wasn't the reason your folks split up. That happened way before I was on the scene. If they were going to get back together, they would have done so by now. Daddy has moved on, you should do the same."

Sacha opened his mouth to argue but a scream erupted from Andy's room. Both of them froze then ran to Andy and Becky at the same time.

In Andy's room, Becky stood facing his cot, screaming and screaming. Andy was crying, his eyes wide, as he slowly sank into his bed sheets. Annabella blinked not understanding what she was witnessing. It was as if his bed had become like quick sand- he was sinking into it. But where was he disappearing to? Underneath the cot was exactly the same, there was no hole, he was not simply falling through his cot.

Snapping out of her thoughts and acting on impulse she ran up to the baby and grabbed his middle desperately pulling him up. The baby screamed and continued to be pulled down.

"I can't- I can't stop it!" Annabella screamed, hysteria colouring her voice. She turned to the others. Becky was still screaming and Sacha seemed frozen. "Call for help!" She screamed at him, "quick Sacha, god, go call for help!"

Andy had sunken down to his chest now, her hands disappearing with the rest of him. She felt her feet rising slowly off the ground as she too began to be sucked in. In a self- survival fear, she took her hands from around him and pulled them out.

"No don't let him go!" wept Becky.

Annabella looked at her and back to Andy.

"I-I'm sorry," she gabbled, "I wasn't thinking."

But it was too late to grab Andy now. All that was left was his head. He was still crying.

"No Andy no!" And after Annabella's redundant words, the child disappeared all together. She hurled herself towards the cot and began to look through the sheets. Whatever hole he was sucked down was now missing.

"Andy? Andy?" she screamed over and over again, pulling up the sheets and mattress. The baby was gone.

Suddenly her entire world went black. Annabella sunk to the floor. She was a selfish and vain woman, but she was not evil. The loss of the baby had, in that moment crushed a little bit of her soul forever changing her. Her whole body began to shake as the guilt welled up. It was all her fault. She let him go. She let him go!

Becky let out a scream again, but Annabella didn't pay attention until the girl called her name. The blonde swung round to see Becky on her belly on the floor. The closet doors behind her were open and black shadow-like tentacles had wrapped themselves around the girl and were dragging her into the closet.

"Annabella!" the girl screamed and cried, "Annabella!"

Annabella ran forward and grabbed the girl, crying, "no, no!" She looked at the girl in her arms and saw her fear. " I won't let you go Becky!" She cried. "We'll go together if we have to!"

Annabella was crying as well. She was frightened, frightened to the point of wanting to vomit, but would not let go! She would not!

As if reading her thoughts, more tentacles shot out of the darkness. They were disgusting to look at. They were a greyish back and felt strange and soft. They repulsed her, making her spin rise up like a cats. She didn't want to be anywhere near them. Becky looked ill having them wrapped around her. Like shadows, they did not look solid, but they could affect them in the same way solid things could. They whipped Annabella around them face and body, causing slashes on her clothes and body and welts on her face and arms. She screamed in agony.

Finally, three large ones tore out of the closet and hit her on her stomach making her let go of becky and go flying back into the cot, tipping it over.

Annabella coughed, winded and sore.

She looked up in time to see Becky, looking betrayed and terrified, get dragged into the closet with a long scream. The doors closed and the scream was cut off.

Annabella scrambled on all fours to the closet, calling Becky's name and pulling out all the shoes and clothes that were in there.

But she already knew the truth. Becky was gone, exactly the same as Andy. Despair began to engulf her, slowing her actions until they stopped all together. She fell back out of the closet and sat on the floor, crying softly, for herself, for the horrors she had seen and for the lost children.

She sat there crying for an unknown amount of time before-

"Annabella?"

She slowly turned her head to the door and saw Stephen. He was standing with a pale faced Sacha by his side. Annabella looked a mess. Her mascara had run down her face along with her torrent of tears. Her skin was pale and her clothes were ripped.

"I don't know what happened," she whispered, her eyes wide and fearful, "Andy just...and then...the closet...Becky...I don't..."

Stephen looked deeply angry, more angry than anyone she had seen in her life. He spoke slowly.

"Annabella, what have you done with my children?"


	3. Missing

"Little Annie May disappeared three days ago," the news reporter said as a picture of a small, Hispanic girl appeared on the television screen. "Her parents are desperate for any information that may..."

"Jeez, how am I going to tell Lizzy I don't want to be with her anymore?" Mickey pulled anxiously on his tie whilst feeling frustrated and frightened. By dumping Lizzy, was he going to throw away what could be a great relationship? Or was he going to allow a bad relationship to linger on and then in the process hurting himself, his child and Lizzy?

He was in his bedroom getting ready to meet Lizzy in the local park. He would take Natalie with him. It was a Saturday, so he had a day off but Lizzy still had to work at the day care kindergarten as they were open every day but Sunday. She would visit him and Natalie during her lunch break.

He switched off his telly, he hadn't been watching it anyway, and with a defeated sigh he had one last look in the mirror before walking to his daughter's room.

Mickey frowned when he got there. The door was closed which was unusual. He could hear her talking inside. Knocking politely, he announced, "honey, I'm coming in."

Fred and Natalie looked at the door at the same time. Fred dashed under her bed just as the door opened and Mickey came in grinning. "Hey, who were you talking to? Was it Fred?"

She only smiled, still not confirming Fred's existence, just as Fred had asked her.

"Well, we need to go over to meet Lizzy in the park now, ok?" Mickey continued, not worrying over her lack of response. Natalie grinned and jumped once, making her father laugh. "I'm glad you're excited, let's get your jacket and-" Mickey looked over to her closet and gaped; a huge assortment of toys, boxes and books were piled in front of the doors. "Natalie, why did you do that? How can we get your jacket now?"

With his usual long suffering at his daughter's antics, Mickey began to pull down the mountain of junk. Natalie whimpered a little and gave an anxious look at Fred, who simply glowered from under the bed. Honestly, parents, theyneverpaid attention!

"There that's better!" Mickey declared as he removed the last bit of debris. On one of the doors was a full length mirror. Mickey could see his daughter in it; she kept glancing between him and under her bed, oddly enough.

He swung them open and grabbed her little green jacket before shutting them again. Something in the mirror caught his eye. Staring into it Mickey saw his daughter still standing next to the bed with a very anxious look on her face and- his heart stopped- a figure under the bed.

Mickey swung his head round, the blood draining from his face. With his own eyes, all he could see was Natalie (who was starting to suck her thumb) no one was under the bed.

But when he looked back into the mirror he could see that the person was now starting to crawl out from under there. The individual had red hair, with a single piece of white at the back and was wearing all green. Even more disturbing was Natalie, who turned to watch the figure. Mickey understood, she could see the person without the aid of a mirror.

Suddenly, the person looked up at Mickey, his eyes a deep blue. Mickey stopped breathing as the person's eyes locked on to his own reflected ones. Then, after a moment's heartbeat, the figure disappeared.

Mickey let out a loud, shaky breath.

xxXXxx

"Mickey!" Lizzy grinned up at her fair haired boyfriend. She loved sandy blonde hair; it was so much like her fathers...ah. She felt the smile slide off her face. Maybe Janey was right about her needing therapy over unresolved daddy issues...

"Hey Lizzy I-" Mickey began before being cut off by his girlfriend.

"Hi there Natalie!"

"Hello Lizzy!" Natalie beamed at her before bounding into the play area where other children ran about screaming and laughing.

"Lizzy listen to me," Mickey urged, sitting next to her on the park bench, "what does Fred look like?"

"Fred? Has Natalie drawn a picture of him? I used to draw loads...though mine tended to be kinda weird and violent..."

"No, but I need to know anyway."

"Why?"

"Lizzy!"

"Ok sorry," she muttered, unused to Mickey being impatient or pushy. "He kind of looked like a living cartoon character. He had red hair that was always really untidy, a stripy green pair of trousers that were pulled up too high and were too short and a matching stripy green jacket. Oh and a yellow t-shirt. Am I allowed to know the big secret now?" Looking at Mickey's frightened face, she felt bad for her sarcasm so she continued more gently, "hey Mickey what's wrong?"

"I saw him."

"Who? Fred?"

Mickey nodded and Lizzy threw her arms around his neck. "Wow, that's amazing!" she cried. "So, does he belong to you and Natalie now? When did this happen? Why did it happen? Do you think I could see him?"

"Lizzy it was scary!" He took her arms from around his neck. "I got goose-pimples and the shakes and everything."

She frowned. "Why?" She thought back to her old friend. "Fred isn't scary...at least I never thought he was...weird and crazy perhaps..."She paused and then said something that she had often suspected. "I sometimes think you liked Fred more than me."

Mickey looked at her in bewilderment.

"Fred was the crazy one," she continued in a level voice. "He was the one who did the craziness in the restaurant."

"No that was you," he muttered vaguely, not looking at her.

"It wasn't me Mickey," she pushed. "I'm very quiet normally. I don't naturally throw things around. You've been with me for months now, you must have noticed that." There was a pause. "Anyway, didn't you say you had an imaginary friend when you were a kid? Why would seeing Fred scare you?"

"I didn't have an imaginary friend really," he sighed, "I just wanted to fit in with you. I imagined people and I imagined friends...but it was nothing like that. He was- he was real."

Lizzy observed him quietly. She had always insisted Fred was real. Hadn't he ever believed her before?

xxXXxx

Meanwhile, from the sides of the park, Natalie watched the other children playing. Fred popped up next to her. "Hey there Nit head!" He looked out to the children. "What's wrong? Do you want to play with them?"

She shook her head. Fred observed quietly for a moment before saying in a sober voice, "can I tell you a sad secret?"

She turned to him, her face curious. Natalie did not connect Fred to anything sad.

"I won't always be here Nit Head," he continued. "And I'm sorry about that. But you see, one day, you will join the others." He gestured to the children in the park. "And you will be so happy. Then you won't need me here." In an unusual display of physical affection, he held one of her hands. "I promise, I swear, I'll always love you. I'll always remember and think about you. You'll think of me and smile with happy memories. But I won't be there talking to you like I am now. But it will be ok. Do you understand?"

She nodded. A part of Natalie had always understood what Fred's role was, and that it required him to leave her at some stage. It was unhappy, but it was natural. She was also glad that he had finally admitted that he loved her. Fred wasn't too into being all girly and emotional, so this was pretty nice, even if it was sad at the same time.

"Good!" he smiled. "I should have told others what I told you, but I didn't and that ended up badly for me and the other person," Fred looked momentarily regretful, he reached round and touched the white streak of hair unconsciously, but the expression disappeared with an uncanny and unnatural speed and was replaced with a happy smile. "Forget those losers; let's go play Jungle Warriors together! YAY!"

But Natalie didn't join in with the cheer, instead she pointed to one of the bushes. "Wh-what is that Fred?" she whimpered, unconsciously moving closer to her best friend and protector. Fred looked at the bush that stood a few feet away from them. Underneath it a shadow was roving back and forth unnaturally, pacing like a wild animal locked in a cage.

"Ah," he declared, "hm...ok, let's go far away from the bush first of all."

"It's creepy!" She wailed as he began to pull her away.

"Yeah I know," Fred began to close his eyes and glow a little.

Natalie gaped. "Fred you're all shiny!" He opened his eyes and smiled at her. Around the park, all the adults stayed as they were, but the children all began to turn in Fred's direction. One by one they abandoned their games and whatever they were playing with and ran towards him, out of sight of all the adults. Most of the adults didn't immediately notice, though a few followed the children slowly.

Too slowly.

After a few minutes a child's name was screamed out by a female voice. Soon another name was, then another ,then another. Slowly but surely panic spread around the park as adults realised that their children were suddenly not there anymore. The screamed names of various youngsters were cried into the air. But not one name was responded to.

One young woman looked into the pushchair next to her only to discover the occupant was now gone.

A father desperately looked for his son, "I threw a ball for him to catch, he went to find it and he hasn't come back!" he told everyone he could grab a hold of desperately, "have you seen him? He only went behind a bush, how could he just vanish?"

The panic reached Lizzy and Mickey. They watched curiously at first as they saw adults beginning to run about shouting. Then they began to hear why they were panicking, cries of 'have you seen my little sister?' 'have you seen my son?' and so on reached their ears. The sudden lack of children was evident.

They both stood. "Natalie!" They called simultaneously, "Natalie?"

"I'm here."

They both turned to see the little girl standing alone in an opening. They ran towards her and Mickey scooped her up into a hug. Many of the other adults saw them together.

"Ask her where the other children are!" A few of them demanded. But when Mickey asked her, she only shook her head in confusion.

Tears began to be shed and people became angry as it turned out that every child and baby in the park, except Natalie, had disappeared.

"She must know!" A mother screamed, terrifying Mickey and Lizzy as much as Natalie. "She must know what has happened or where they all are! Why is just your child ok?"

Quickly, the young couple ran out of the park, Mickey holding Natalie tightly, in order to escape the frantic parents and guardians.

Unbeknown to Lizzy or Mickey, Natalie pulled out the necklace Fred had given her a few days before and stared at it. The emerald colour had darkened. It was almost black. Carefully she placed it back in its hiding place under her sweater.


	4. Samhain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now we go into the past- for this is also an Orgins story for Fred...

Once upon a time,

On the grubby shores of what is now called Calais there lived tough, sea-savvy tribesmen known as the Ingaevones. These tribes tended to fight amongst one another. Life was short and hard. People prayed and put all their hopes into the Afterlife.

One small tribe, further inland kept itself quiet. It was small and weak.

And in this tribe lived a little boy who would go on to have an amazing destiny. Unlike his counterparts, young Fridurick would live a long, long time- too long in fact. But he would not live out his long years as a human.

At this time he was nine years old, bright eyed and mischievous.

It was autumn, the most difficult time of year would soon be upon them. Winter. It chilled Fridurick just thinking about it. Months and months of hunger and bitter cold. Half the babies would die. He would probably lose a friend or two, assuming he survived himself. This was because while the beautiful goddess looked after them during the summer, winter was the time of the god Samhain. On the first day of winter, the first of November, Samhain would burst out of the underworld in a fit of ice and snow, and with his cronies, would march through the known world, causing darkness and disease and death.

So to try and prepare for this dreadful time the people stocked up on fish and birds and any fruits and herbs that could be dried and saved. Then all they could do was pray, which was what they were doing at that specific time.

Everyone was naked save for a throne of flowers around their heads and had rubbed sweet peas and primroses on to their skin. For good measure his mother had given him a bunch of wild flowers to hold also. Fridurick was naughty and easily distracted so mother always had to make sure he had something to occupy himself with and that he had more to offer the goddess.

The entire village were standing in their sacred grove. The trees stretched over them forming an arch. In the future, cathedrals would mimic what the land was doing naturally. In the middle of the grove stood a wooden figure of a buxom naked woman and it was this that people stood around. This woman was the goddess Nerthus.

Fridurick thought she was a bit of a mean old bitch making them suffer such long winters with her psycho relative Samhain, yet making them have to be so grateful for the few short summer and spring months which they had to work through anyway. However, he would not dare say so. He had once complained of Nerthus to his mother. She had beat him soundly, sent him to bed with no food, then sobbed half the night terrified that Nerthus would come after her or her son, or her other child in angry vengeance for his ingratitude.

It had been her tears and fears for his sister that convinced him to never again be rude about the goddess (not out loud anyway.) Fridurick was a naughty little boy, but he was also kind and caring. He was good about the things that mattered.

Fridurick yawned widely, his mother nudging him a little roughly in response. He grinned down at his little sister, a raven haired beauty even at only five years old. She smiled back at him but turned away at their mother's glare. His sister, Aenor, was the most important thing to him in all the world. He sometimes thought he possibly loved her more than his mother, which would make him feel a little guilty. But it couldn't be helped, Aenor was a lot nicer to be around than their stressed out mother. In fact, he preferred his sister, and the village children in general better than any of the adults. Being nine years old meant that he was coming out of the childhood stage fast. As soon as he turned around eleven or twelve he would have to begin working to get food for his family and learning how to fight. His father was dead, killed in a battle the village were always doomed to lose (being as small as they were) and being the oldest boy he would have to be the head of the family. It was also little things, like how his sister would smile at him when he stepped into a room, where his mother would sigh wearily and tell him off for something he had done wrong that day (seemed to him like he was always doing things wrong); that his sister would occasionally give him a bit of her dinner when they were all starving, he would never accept it, but it was nice to get the offer.

The people began to chant as, out of the small lake situated just outside the grove, the Priestesses began to climb out of the waters. Like the people who worshipped them the women were all naked. Their hair was long and unkempt. All the women were very thin.

As they entered the sacred grove, all the people fell to their knees. Fridurick fell later than what he meant to as he was too hypnotised by the beautiful Priestesses. Luckily, no one seemed to have noticed.

The main priestess held in her hand a white pigeon. She slit its throat very quickly and poured the blood into a golden goblet, the most expensive thing the village owned. She dabbed the heads of each of the Priestesses before going over to a rock on which a picture of a wagon was crudely cut into it. She poured the blood onto the rock and the people began to pray:

"All-giving Nerthus, as you share your crops,  
Seeds sown full blown to grain, to fruit, to honey,  
So we honor thee in fulfilling thy holy work,  
Through this gathering of feast and frith,  
Hail thee Nerthus."

As they chanted the priestess put the rock with the carving of the chariot on it in front of the wooden statue of Nerthus. Then the women, eight in all, stood in fours either side of the goddess watching carefully as members of the village walked to the altar and gave a gift. The village was small and weak and so what they gave was a reflection of that. The people had worried but the priestesses had sworn that once they put away all iron (which offended the goddess) and gave with full hearts, she would accept their offering. People gave from their precious food stores mostly; herbs, jams, pieces of salted meat, late fruit and so on.

As darkness began to fall, the priestesses lit two torches and held them so everyone could still see. Fridurick yawned again, rocking on his feet. It was cold and they were still standing there, naked, waiting to give Nerthus a gift (which he swore the Priestesses took for themselves anyway) and to give her a stupid prayer of thanks. Goddess he was so bored!

He looked across and saw another little boy, Rue. They grinned at one another, Rue carefully sliding over to Fridurick so that they were standing together. Rue leaned over and whispered, "Hey...our goddess is all naked." Then the two giggled like idiots though it made no sense to, it wasn't as if their gods or goddesses being portrayed as naked was anything rare, especially as the village focused on the fertility gods as opposed to the more northern war gods (their village was one that needed to grow food and they needed more children, so the war gods were useless for them.)

Then the boys began to nudge one another, elbowing each other in ribs, stepping on each other's feet and so on all whilst trying to stifle giggles.

Fridurick's mother knelt before the goddess and offered up her gift; a dried lavender and fresh Amaryllis along with a blackberry jam.

"Oh great Nerthus," She whispered, "please forgive my wild son and protect my gentle girl. I pray for their protection, please, mother of the earth, you understand me best, please look out for them. I love you, great goddesses!" She kissed the ground in front of the statue and laid her gist.

Her daughter came second. For Aenor this was the first time she gave a gift on her own. The Priestesses had decreed that the moment a child could walk was the sign from the goddess that they had to give alone.

She ambled up to the statue and with great care kneeled down and placed some wild sprigs she had collected herself as an offering. She looked up at the Priestesses, a little afraid. One of them smiled softly at her, giving the girl hope. She grinned back toothily and said her own prayer:

"Dear goddess, thank you for the sun and moon and thank you for making the flowers grow because they are pretty."

She tapped the ground happily, as she would tap a baby's head in fondness and went to her proud mother. But just then the happy moment was shattered.

Fridurick and Rue had now started pushing each other and at that moment Fridurick was pushed and stumbled into the Priestesses. The all toppled over, which was completely hilarious to see; only the one holding the torch fell onto the statue of the goddess. It being made of dry wood meant it went up in flames before they could save it.

His mother screamed and most of the villagers cried out in horror; Fridurick had just burned the effigy of their goddess, surely they were all doomed.

xxXXxx

Later that evening, nine year old Fridurick sat shivering in the family hut. The land was already becoming very cold as the last remnants of autumn fell away from the branches of sleeping trees and moulded on the muddy ground. The village was poor, and his family were poorer still, having no father figure, so the hut was flimsy and weak against the winter; it was a wonder that he and his sister had survived every winter so far.

Fridurick's mother was distraught weeping profusely and praying into the hearth, begging Nerthus for forgiveness. He watched her, rocking backwards and forwards, groaning and beating her fist against her chest.

He sighed and looked away.

Without meaning to his always managed to hurt people. He wasn't sure how he did it. This time he'd managed to injure every one of their sacred priestesses, anger and frighten his entire village and, by the looks of things, send his mother completely insane; all of this because he and Rue were mucking around a bit.

"It's not fair," he muttered more to himself than his young sister, who was sitting quietly beside him, "I was only playing. How can I hurt so many people when all I was doing was having a bit of fun with a mate?"

"What are you whispering over there?" called out his mother, and not for the first time he damned her excellent hearing. "Were you talking to the wicked spirits? the things that must control you?"

"No wicked spirit controls me," he bit back miserably. "I was only playing! How was I supposed to know that accident would happen?"

"The village is doomed," she cried terror snapping her sanity and causing her voice to rise so much her children squirmed with anxiety, "the village is doomed because of you! She will curse our crops and her kin, the terrible Samhain will surely kill us all this winter!" She shrieked the last part hysterically, frightening her son and daughter terribly, before running up and grabbing Fridurick, "you have to repent," she continued, "you have to pray, come, come with me to the hearth."

She and Fridurick knelt down, Fridurick looking anxiously at his wide-eyed sister, and began to pray with his mother.

"Please goddess, please forgive me for our crimes, please bless the village, please do not curse my mother," he stammered as his mother wept loudly beside him, her own prayer lost in wails and hysteria.

As he prayed, he heard the sound of many people gathering outside. He tore his eyes away from Aenor and looked to the door, just as heavy banging was put upon it.

"Open up!" roared a male voice outside. Fridurick recognised it; it was the leader of their tribe, Heardred. Heardred was a frightening man, he was tall and touch and every one of his bulging muscles was covered in scars. He had fought alongside Fridurick's father in the battle that killed him. Heardred had often made it clear that he did not like Fridurick and considered him a failure to his father.

Hearing Heardred's bellowing and banging, Fridurick's mother suddenly scooped up her son and ran to her daughter before slumping down on the floor her back pressed against the wall. In her arms, crushed between his mother's chest and his frightened sister, he could feel their twin hearts beating rapidly.

The flimsy door was smashed open with hardly any effort, and Heardred strode in, his face blank, his eyes burning fear and anger, his lips in a straight line and pressed together so hard they were a pale white.

"No, please," begged mother, "not my babies, please, please!"

Fridurick felt Aenor being pulled away from him, and immediately panicking leapt out of his mother's arms and into Heardred, biting him on the arm.

"Vicious little brat," ground out Heardred before securing Fridurick neatly in one buff arm. It was all too late that the young lad realised that the village leader had never been after his sister at all, but he himself.

He watched his mother gripping her daughter tightly, as Aenor held out her hand as if reaching out to her big brother and screamed like an injured animal whilst he was taken away. His mother looked blank and defeated. Little did Fridurick know, but seeing his mother cradling Aenor whilst bunched up on the ground, would be the last time he ever saw of her.

Outside, the entire village stood waiting. They separated as Heardred walked past, revealing a small cart with a young Ox tied to the front of it. Fridurick was piled into the cart before various villagers tied up his hands and feet so that he couldn't move. He looked around the crowd and saw several children, his lifelong friends, staring at him. The saw Rue amongst them and felt some relief that whatever terrible punishment was to be met out on him, at least Rue was going to be safe, at least for now.

"Mama!" he called from the cart, feeling frightened as it began to pull away, the ox being led out of the village, "mama!" But he did not hear her reply, and did not see her amongst the crowd.

The cart continued slowly for some time, and Fridurick began to shake from the cold, and he could see his own breath rising from his mouth. They were outside of the village now. It was very dark, they only had a few torches and the heavenly bodies for light. By what he could see, only the men of the village, and a few dozen women, were trailing the cart now.

Soon the travelling slowed and he could hear the people's laboured breath. They were out in the marshes, were the terrain was so wet and inhospitable, no one could live there or grow crops, and they seldom ventured through it unless...

'Unless they have to make a blood sacrifice,' realised Fridurick, feeling cold sinking through his bones and his heart stilling from shock, before beginning to beat so powerfully and rapidly it hurt his chest.

The cart stopped completely, and Heardred came round and pulled Fridurick out, setting him down onto the ground gently. The mud was wet and sucking and he was afraid to be on it. As if sensing his fear, Heardred lifted Fridurick back up and ruffled his head slightly.

Fridurick began to cry softly, 'why is he being so nice to me? He's never been nice to me! I cause too much trouble and I annoy him. Besides, this is supposed to be my punishment, so why is he being nice?' Fridurick didn't want to try and answer his own question.

Heardred was walking, and Fridurick turned his head to see where they were going. Up ahead, he saw all the Priestesses. They were all wearing white linen togas, with black masks that looked vaguely liked black birds, and rave feathers tied into their hair. Raven's represented death in their culture, Fridurick began to hiccup between quiet sobs. The High Priestess held in her hand a long rope while the Priestesses around her all held two sticks each.

Fridurick glanced at the Ox that had pulled the cart.

'Blood sacrifices have always been animals, maybe they will execute the Ox,' he felt bad for the Ox, but fervently hoped this was the case. But though only animals had been killed on rare occasions for their goddess, he knew that every now and then, if the village was in dire straits, humans had been killed in the past.

Heardred's hand was still on Fridurick's head, and now he pushed Fridurick closer against his chest and landed a rough kiss on the boy's wild, red hair. He went to pass Fridurick over to the Priestess but as if the boy was suddenly possessed he screamed and kicked against her, pushing himself further into the village chieftain.

"I'll be good," the boy cried, "I swear, I swear I'll be good from now on! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident! Please, please!"

Fridurick continued to cry and beg as Heardred held him down at the feet of the chief priestess. Fridurick found, to his horror, that floor he was being pushed on was a lethal mixture of water and mud; it would suck him down.

The surrounding Priestesses all around their leader began to clap the sticks together, making a horrible loud sound that frightened the boy even more.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

"Great Goddess!" cried the high Priestess, ignoring the screaming child, "in supplication we present to you our blood sacrifice. Please forgive the error which was made against you this afternoon! Please continue to bless our village and keep Samhain from destroying us out of vengeance!"

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

Fridurick had given up fighting, the bog had already dragged down his legs and he could the rest of him being slowly drawn inside. The High Priestess knelt down beside him and tied the rope tightly around his neck and placed a triangular cap on his head.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

Chocking on his sobs, he glanced back up at the crowds, desperately hoping to find his mother or Aenor. Even though he knew they would be traumatised to see him murdered, he still wanted them there.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

'I didn't even get to say goodbye,' he realised, 'I didn't get to tell them that I did love them.'

He wanted to call out to the villagers, all of whom looked pale and frightened, even Heardred, but he felt as if his mouth was full of wool. He was simply too scared.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

His air supply was suddenly cut off as the rope tightened around his neck. He wanted to reach up and grasp the rope from his neck, to pull it away from himself, but his own hands were tied.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

He began to dry wretch, and a few of the crowd looked away. His vision watered and blurred, he could feel his own eyes swelling up, and even sound became strained until all he could really hear was the blood in his ears.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

He almost didn't notice the feeling of something slimy and long like an eel, wrapping itself around his ankle, until it began to pull hard, dragging down further into the mud.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

He tried to scream, but couldn't, so inside his mouth opened and closed like a dying fish. He lifted his head up, facing the stars, screaming silently for help, for the goddess to suddenly appear and say that all was well and that she forgave him, and that they really didn't have to strangle him to death.

Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack!

The last thing he ever saw alive were the twinkling stars, before his sight shut down. Just as he was about to die, just before his heart stopped, the thing around his ankle was joined by another and another, wrapping around his waist (which was now almost completely covered in the mud) and his legs, and together they all gave on mighty tug, dragging hi, half-dead, half-alive, under and into the bog, never to be seen by the villagers again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been given some advice from a reviewer that it'd be a good idea to offer some explanation behind my choices in this chapter.
> 
> Nerthus: Nerthus was a goddess mentioned only by one person, a Roman called Tacitus. In AD 98, Tacitus, who had travelled into western Europe and wrote about the tribes he met there, wrote a book about his discoveries called Germania: On the history and Geography of Germany. He talks about the tribal traditions and religions. Now everything Tacitus says we have to take with a pinch of salt, after all the Romans had a low view of the Germanic nations (seeing them as inferior, unsophisticated and violent vagabonds) which may have affected the way Tacitus wrote about them. However, he seemed generally pleasant about the people, praising them sometimes and suggesting that in some ways they were better than the spoilt Romans. Anyway, my point is that though we can't take him as gospel (especially the things he says that have no physical or archaeological evidence) we can take him seriously enough.
> 
> One of the things he spoke about was a religion the tribes had. Now, all the tribes had slightly different versions of the same religion (sort of like the many different types of churches that exist nowadays, but they all come from the same source and come under the blanket of Christianity.) The people of Iron Age Germany (Germany including France and some of Northern Europe, Germany being a bit of a blanket term in those times) were at that time very agricultural, they were focused on having fertile lands and fertile women. Gods such as Thor and Odin, who were warlike, came later when the tribes became fighters (i.e. the emergence of warrior people such as the Vikings) before then, the gods were all fertility gods (known as the Aesir- which roughly translates nowadays to 'elf.')
> 
> According to Tacitus, the tribes worshipped a goddess called Nerthus who demanded yearly sacrifice; her priestesses would take rope and drown willing Germans in lakes. There is not much evidence of this. By what archaeologists have fond, human sacrifice was pretty rare (but this may also be due to the fact that we're talking about the Iron Age, so much evidence will have wasted away by now).
> 
> However there are human remains often found in peat and bog pits around northern Europe (most famously is one called 'The Tullond Man'). In the bogs the humans have been naked short of a pointed cap (very similar to the caps elves wear in childrens books) and something around their waists. The bodies almost always have rope wrapped around their necks. We aren't sure exactly what happened to these people, and the nature of their deaths varies slightly from one place to the other, but we are certain, by the way the people are drowned into the pits and the ceremony of their deaths, that they were human sacrifice.
> 
> Ingaevones: I say that Fridurick's family are Ingaevones. This is a term Tacitus uses to describe the various tribes that live near the sea.
> 
> For more information, there is a book called Beowulf and Grendel: The truth behind England's oldest legend by John Girgsby which goes deep into the sacrifice idea and is pretty interesting. Also, if anyone has any queries or complaints, please email me and I will answer you


	5. Magic

"Aaaand take in a deep breath of air..."

Janey took in a deep breath. She held it.

"Aaand, release."

Janey breathed out through her mouth. She opened her eyes and grinned.

"That was awesome folks," said a long haired, blonde woman to the circle of people of which Janey was a member. "I feel we are really getting in touch with the Earth Goddess, do you?"

Everyone smiled and nodded at one another. Janey beamed. This was awesome.

After the relaxing séance everyone milled about, drinking herbal tea or pure water and eating wafer biscuits and oat cakes. Janey made her way to their blonde haired leader Marianne.

"Marianne I just wanted to say how happy I am to be here today," she gushed while Marianne beamed.

"You've been coming along really well," the blonde replied. "I am impressed, you're a natural wild spirit Janey."

Janey smiled but then looked worried. Marianne asked her what was wrong. "It's my friends," she answered finally, "I am worried. They have a little girl and with all the disappearances...I just can't help but worry. Is there anything you can do? Why are children vanishing?"

Marianne paused, deep in thought. "I don't like to discuss the spirit world too much," she began, "especially the Dark Side. The spirits like to keep themselves a secret. And it does not bode well to catch their attention. But... but things have been strange recently."

"Is the spirit world partly to do with the disappearances?"

"Yes. There are many different planes and universes next to our own. We are but one layer in a multi-verse of mystery. On the whole we all keep ourselves separate but recently I feel the one of the Other-worlds is intruding on our own." During her speech, Marianne had closed her eyes and bought shaking hands to her temples. But then she calmed and looked at Janey. "You are precious to me Janey. I can try to help the little girl as much as possible. I can put a spell on the child to keep her protected, a charm if you will."

"Yes, please, that would be great."

"Bring the child to me and I will do my best for the child." She smiled warmly. "You have a soft and kind spirit Janey. In fact there is something I wanted you to do for me, in payment for protecting the child."

"What?"

"I have a young woman staying with me at my apartment. She's very terrified. She was there when two children were kidnapped. She was right there when the Other-world and our world interacted. She isn't like us," Marianne sighed, "she isn't magical and she has no understanding of a higher consciousness. She is very broken and very upset and need recovery time. Janey, I was wondering if you could allow her to stay with you for a few days, until she regains confidence. I know you have a loving spirit that can help nurture her to health."

"Sure, I'll do it, but why won't you do it yourself if she's already staying with you?"

Marianne grinned a little ruefully, "I love this woman very much but she drives me insane. Such is often the way between sisters."

xxXXxx

"Mickey, Janey is coming over for lunch. You did remember to buy food didn't you?"

Mickey put down his work bag and sighed dramatically, putting his hand to his head, "oh, no I forgot, sorry Betsy."

Lizzy swallowed her anger and smiled, "that's ok. I'll go shopping now," she checked her watch, "I may just have time."

"But I'm back from work," he whined, "just stay with me for a while. They won't mind. We can order pout or something."

"We don't have the money for that Mickey."

"We'll be fine," Mickey shrugged.

Ever since the scare with Natalie in the park, Lizzy had been living with the child and her father. It had pained her to say goodbye to her little apartment (which she had been so proud of) but both she and Mickey had been frightened for Natalie and it had readdressed what their values were. Silently, both had put their niggling doubts over their relationship to one side and decided to go for it. So far, Lizzy was ashamed to admit she was slightly regretting her decision.

Janey arrived half an hour late and very excitable.

Lizzy answered the door and the old friends hugged, "Lizzy you will be so stunned to hear what I have to say to you! Hi Natalie!"

Natalie grinned before hiding back behind Lizzy.

"Come into the back kitchen and meet Mickey," Lizzy smiled. Mickey had never met Janey before, and Lizzy was keen for them to get along. If Janey liked Mickey maybe it would help Lizzy wise-up and appreciate what she had with him.

"Hi," she shook Mickey's hand, "it's great to finally meet you!"

Mickey stared in amazement, he had known that Janey was a little crazy and fun by what Lizzy had told him, but after hearing that she tended to sleep with horny married men once a month because she could never 'get' any, he had never guessed she was so attractive.

"Um, hi," he grinned back, wincing from her tight grip.

They scrambled over to the set table, Janey immediately piling food on her plate talking all the while. Mickey was stunned, this lady was...so cool...

"So anyway this could be a way of keeping Natalie safe from all the weird disappearances." Janey said to Lizzy, shovelling food into her mouth. She smiled in bliss, "I'm so glad I'm off that Atkins diet!" she gushed.

Lizzy carefully chopped her salad into tiny squares, "I dunno," she began slowly, "it seems a little weird having some random stranger come live with you."

"That's why I want you to come help me move her into my apartment, you can help me judge whether she's a psycho or not."

"I'm not a good judge of character."

"Sure you are Betsy," Mickey leaned over and kissed her head. Janey was surprised to see Lizzy grimace and move away from his embrace.

"But I'm not," she argued.

"I'm just trying to be nice," he sat back into his own seat and smiled softly at his daughter.

"There's no point saying nice things if they're not true," Lizzy insisted.

"You're just saying that because you're used to people being horrible to you."

"It's not that at all! I just prefer honesty," she suddenly stopped realising Janey, and more importantly Natalie, were still there. "I'm sorry," she sighed, "you're right. Thank you."

She gave him a stiff kiss on the cheek and smiled.

"Well I think what Janey is doing is great," Mickey continued, "I'd love to just take someone in and take care of them, if I could. Besides, this is all really exciting, all this magic and other-worlds. I wish I knew more about this stuff!"

Janey grinned, "well this is your opportunity. We take Natalie here down to Marianne to be blessed and to get a protection spell, then we take her sister down to my apartment, once we're all agreed she isn't crazy. Agreed?"

Natalie and Mickey roared their approval before all three looked at Lizzy mischievously.

She smiled and rolled her eyes at their antics. "Fine, I agree as well."

"After what happened with Fred," she thought, "this couldn't be any weirder or stranger, just some new age nonsense and we're done."

xxXXxx

That very afternoon after lunch they all piled into Mickey's car and drove down to Marianne's shop.

The blonde lady greeted them warmly. "My sister is coming here later," she explained leading them into the back was Janey and the others would meditate and practice their yoga. "She wasn't too pleased that I wanted her to live with another person, but she is keen to get away from me," she let out a tinkling laugh that, to Lizzy, almost seemed sinister due to its forced innocence.

"So what are you a pagan?" She asked cautiously, looking around the shop and all the strange jars and crystals and old tattered books. She wasn't sure if she wanted Natalie exposed to anything too strange, though Mickey seemed pretty happy, he hadn't stopped grinning since lunch.

"I'm a type of wiccan," replied Marianne. "It's not the same as being a witch, and it is a legitimate religion."

Lizzy nodded and closed her mouth, feeling chastised.

Marianne reached out for Natalie, who responded by holding Marianne's hands. "Such a beautiful child," the Wiccan gushed, "you must be very proud," Mickey turned and nodded, his eyes warm with love for his daughter. Lizzy melted a little. She loved how much he cared for Natalie.

"We need to stand in a circle and hold hands, Natalie, you need to sit in the middle of the circle," Marianne ordered. When they had all done so she began to chant in a tongue none of them understood.

A soft breeze began to whip around the circle. Lizzy suddenly began to feel light headed. She did not like how she was feeling and she did not like not understanding what was going on. Marianne's head began to loll, her eyes were closed tight and she continued chanting as if in a trance.

Lizzy looked to the other adults, but they simply seemed amazed and entranced. The only other person who seemed somewhat concerned was Natalie herself, who was looking up at Lizzy with wide brown eyes.

"It's ok Natalie!" Lizzy called, uncertain of whether she was ruining the spell but not caring as long as Natalie wasn't feeling afraid, "I won't let anything bad happen! Neither will Fred!"

Natalie nodded, looking somewhat calmer before suddenly flying up into the air with a yelp. Everyone gasped and Marianne opened her eyes. The breeze became a rough wind.

"Is this meant to happen?" Janey yelled over the roar of wind.

"N-no!" Marianne yelled back, "this is too much power! I don't understand what's happened!"

Up in the air Natalie's necklace fell out of her shirt and began to glow, the bright green slowly engulfing the entire shop. It was so strong they all had to close their eyes.

"Natalie!" Lizzy could hear Mickey screaming.

"Don't let go of hands!" Marianne cried a second later.

The wind was so rough and strong Lizzy was gripping their hands tightly and they were doing the same. It was painful. The wind was cold and spiteful, tearing at their clothes and skin. Lizzy could feel her eyes getting warm with tears. Natalie was up into the air; surely she would be feeling the worst of it? She knew this was a bad idea from the start! Why did she let people talk her into doing stupid things? And now Natalie might be hurt!

Suddenly she thrown from herself deprecating thoughts as she and the others were dashed backwards. The circle was broken and the green light burst from the shop and vanished.

They got shakily to their feet and ran to where they had stood into the circle. Slowly, an unconscious Natalie drifted down from the ceiling; landing safely in Mickey's outstretched arms.

"What was that?" He breathed, checking his daughter for any sign of injury. She seemed fine, other than being asleep.

"I thought you knew what you were doing!" cried Janey to Marianne.

"I do," the Wiccan responded calmly, brushing her long windswept hair with her fingers. "Usually the spell is very simple and not at all dramatic." She walked over to Natalie and looked at her necklace, "it was this that messed things up," she answered. "Where did she get it from?"

"I have no idea," Mickey looked over to Lizzy but she shook her head. She hadn't given Natalie anything like that.

The little girl herself opened her eyes. They breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you ok?" Began Mickey, "you sure? Sweetie where did you get that necklace?"

Quickly, Natalie hid it under her top. "You weren't supposed to know," she said a little petulantly. "I had to hide it. But your spell made it show itself and now I think something has been called."

"What do you mean honey?"

But Natalie could not explain herself.

xxXXxx

"What was that all about?" Lizzy exclaimed to Mickey, who still had a sulking Natalie in his arms. "We shouldn't have gone there Mickey!"

Mickey let out a frustrated sigh, "well I'm sorry Lizzy, how was all supposed to know something like that would happen?"

"Because it's magic, Mickey, and that stuff is always wild and dangerous, remember all the stuff Fred gets up to, even now with Natalie?" as soon as Lizzy said those words, she thought to herself how it seemed that Mickey hadn't really ever believed her about Fred.

She was about to accuse him of such, but instead lowered her eyes to the ground and swallowed how annoyed she was. Lizzy was no good with arguments and he would just be right anyway. Her anger was quickly followed by a strong wave of guilt.

"I'm sorry Mickey," she said quietly, "I was just scared, that's all. Stuff like this frightens me."

Mickey put his arm around her shoulders, hoping that she wasn't about to cry.

"That stuff is just child's play," Mickey sighed again, "I mean, Fred antics involves shaving a cat or throwing mud at our neighbours windows. Nothing like this...though..." suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks.

Lizzy looked back at him, "what, what is it? Mickey?"

He shook his head, snapping out of the trance, "oh nothing just that I...I remembered when I saw Fred."

"You thought it was your mind playing tricks on you."

"Yeah but you were convinced I'd seen him, Lizzy," he walked up to her, "what if something is happening? I mean me seeing Freed, kids magically vanishing into thin air, Natalie floating and her having this necklace, it can't be coincidence. I can't believe we haven't put it all together before now."

"But why would all this stuff be connected, sure it's strange but..." she turned to Natalie who had been quietly watching the distance, apparently ignoring their discussion, "sweetie, it was Fred who gave you the necklace wasn't it?" The little blonde huffed and ignored her.

"Did he say why he gave it to you?" Lizzy pushed, feeling her old anger towards Fred grow, "is this dangerous? You must tell us, it isn't funny if it is dangerous."

Hearing Lizzy pleading, Natalie turned to her and finally answered, "it isn't dangerous. Please don't take it away!"

Lizzy blinked, remembering how her mother had locked away Fred in the Jack-in-the-box. She looked at Natalie's large, frightened blue eyes, and at her chubby fingers gripping the necklace.

"Ok Natalie, I won't take it." She looked at Mickey, "but we have to start being a lot more careful. Keep an eye out for Fred, because we need to talk to him."

"Oh my God it's you!"

Mickey, Natalie and Lizzy looked up to see a dishevelled, but still pretty, blonde lady staring at Lizzy with wide eyes.

"A-Annabella?"

"I heard what you were saying just now," Annabella responded, before pointing at Lizzy dramatically, "I remember you. One of the guys I used to date, he was always going on about how crazy you were, how you could see things that weren't really there."

Annabella began to stumble up to them, whilst Mickey gripped his daughter more tightly and Lizzy frowned.

"I wasn't crazy. I don't appreciate the fact that Charles and you discussed me."

"No you weren't crazy," cried Annabella, grabbing Lizzy's shoulders.

"Ow! Stop that hurts-"

"You weren't crazy and I'm not crazy! There are things out there! Things that kids talk about but we never used to see but now some of us do," she began to shake Lizzy until Janey and Marianne ran out of the shop and dragged Annabella away. Janey gave Lizzy a comforting hug whilst Marianne calmed Annabella down.

"Stop Anna" she was saying, whilst rubbing Annabella's forearms, "it's ok, you need to stop freaking out."

Annabella nodded, but tears began to stream from her eyes, "but...but they think I did something." She choked through her tears, "they think I hurt the children."

"What's all this about?" asked Mickey slowly, pulling Natalie closer to himself and keeping a wary eye on Annabella.

"I used to know her," began Lizzy, also watching in shock, "well sort of. She was the one Charles was having an affair with."

"Janey," called Marianne, "this is my little sister, Annabella. She's had a rough time and she was the one I was hoping you could let her stay with you for a few days."

"I dunno," answered Janey, still standing close to her best friend, "you never said she was dangerous, just that she needed recovery time."

"She isn't dangerous..."

"Please don't talk like I'm not here," Annabella stood straight and brushed some of her wild, blonde her from her face and quietly dabbed her tears. Lizzy noticed how she was only wearing a baggy t-shirt and jeans, and had no cosmetics on. It was strange, as Annabella had always struck her as a woman who always dressed up and who wouldn't be seen dead without a face full of make-up.

"I saw something," Annabella pushed on, mainly settling her gaze on Lizzy, "something magical and evil. It came out of the closet and the children of my then boyfriend. It took them away. I saw it and they could see it, but no one believes me. I swear I'm not crazy and I would have not done anything to those kids. You gotta believe me. You do, don't you? It's Lizzy right? You guys were just saying how kids are vanishing all over the place and that you've seen some weird stuff."

Janey leaned over to Lizzy and whispered, "what do you think?"

Lizzy gulped, looking at Annabella and recognising herself in that desperate face and those wide eyes. "I think she's telling the truth," she responded, before looking straight at Janey, "do you think you could take her in? If something is happening, then maybe she can help us, especially if she's seen something. I don't want Natalie to be in any danger, and if she is, and I think she is, then this may save her. We need information. I'll try and call for Fred tonight, and maybe you could ask her what she saw exactly."

"Ok, I'm not sure how wise this is, but ok, never say I don't do anything for you Lizzy."

"I appreciate everything you do for me," said Lizzy with feeling, giving her friend one last hug before Janey went over to the fair-haired sisters, accepting their proposition.

"Come on," said Mickey, "let's get home pronto."

xxXXxx

Lizzy stared out of her window, watching the darkness take over the city as the deep red sun settled down behind the city skyline. She had spent most of her evening in her room, feigning tiredness. In truth she didn't want to talk to anyone. In particular she didn't want to see Mickey.

She bit her lip, not understanding her own feelings.

What was wrong with her? Did she just like men like Charles, nasty, narcissistic bullies who treated her badly? For years she fought to stay with Charles even though she knew, she knew that it was a bad idea and that he was not a good man. She knew that the relationship was abusive, even though she hated admitting it to herself. Here was Mickey, good kind and gentle, yet she found him increasingly irritating. There was always something superficial between them, she kept expecting to wake up and realise that it wasn't real. He didn't seem to be in love with her, despite how often he said he was, and she knew she didn't love him.

'Maybe I'm so damaged by Charles and my parents that now I can't fathom the idea that I am loved, maybe that's why I feel this relationship is false...yet...yet...when exactly did Mickey fall in love with me?' She thought of the past year they had spent together. He had always loved her, it seems, even back on that fateful day and he had accidentally bumped into her, he had always given her that doe-eyed look and spoke of love and affection.

'I believe you can never really fall out of love', isn't that what he had said on their first date? But they had only just reconnected then. So had he loved her as a five year old? And even then, he loved her for the wacky shenanigans Fred cooked up, but that was never really her. So...all this time, had Mickey been in love with a false version of her? Was that why she felt like he wasn't as interested now, but going through the motions? Had he realised she wasn't really the person he thought she was?

'Or am I just being paranoid? Am I trying to somehow shift the blame on to Mickey, so that when this relationship falls apart from my lack of interest, and I end up being all alone for the first time in years, then I can try and blame him instead of myself?' She sighed deeply and buried her head in her hands, 'I can't deal with this, it's too much. I wish I could understand myself. I wish I knew what was going on. Why can't I just be normal? Is there something wrong with me, is that why I keep making myself miserable? Maybe I need Fred again, to teach me how to stop being a ninny and to get on with it. Though Fred never liked Mickey too much... I wonder why, he was always ok with Janey?'

"What are you doing," asked Mickey suddenly entering the room and letting in a shaft of light from the hallway that hurt her eyes, "sitting in the dark like this?"

"Just, trying to get my thought's together," she answered, putting up her hand to cover her eyes, "where is Natalie? Is she ok? today was frightening..."

"She's fine," Mickey switched on the light and sat on the edge of the bed, "she's piled up loads of stuff in front of her closet, I just spent ages putting it all back in the right place."

Lizzy felt a pang of guilt shoot through her chest like lightening, "Oh...sorry, I should have been there to help. Why did she do it?"

"Something to do with Fred, same old, same old." Mickey pulled off some of his clothes, "I'm going to take a shower."

Lizzy nodded absent-mindedly. She needed to talk to Fred, could she do it through Natalie?

xxXXxx

In her dark bedroom, tucked up in bed, Natalie stared at her closet. The light was on in the hallway, casting hundreds of shadows that stretched across her room and distorted everything. She could feel her heart beating and her breath was barely controlled. She stared at the closet, she knew it was stupid to do so, whatever was in there could hurt her within seconds, so staring wouldn't help anything, but she couldn't help it, she just couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

'Please Fred,' she prayed in her mind, 'please come back to me. Please. I'm frightened!'

She let out a small gasp as the door on the closet began to turn very slowly.

'I should scream,' she suddenly thought, her whole body tense under the blanket, which now felt ridiculously heavy and very hot, 'I should scream really loudly or run out of the room. The light is on outside, it's ok I-' As if hearing her thoughts, the light outside switched off and her bedroom door suddenly slammed shut, entombing her in her bedroom. She flinched as it closed but still could not move; it was as if some invisible thing was holding her down and putting a lot of pressure on her chest so she couldn't breathe.

The catch on the closet door clicked, and slowly it began to open. Natalie's eyes were so open and strained she felt as if they could fall out at any moment.

A strange smell she couldn't identify hit her nose and the sound of whispering floated up into the air. In the darkness of the closet she could make out something writhing about in there, like many oily black tentacles sprawling amongst one another desperately seeking space.

Shuffle

Shuffle

Her toes curled as she felt something shuffling about under her bed. Her breathing stopped as she saw each of her pictures being ripped off the walls, but what was ripping them off she couldn't tell.

Then the whispering changed, it was more like a soft sniggering. Her eyes welled with tears, but still she couldn't scream. It was strange, she was terrified, but she was also embarrassed, embarrassed of her own fears, that she was so unable to control herself.

It was then that whatever was crawling on her floor began to climb up onto the end of her bed, she knew this because she could feel the bed lower from its added pressure.

Natalie gulped and held her breath, too terrified to make any noise now. Whatever was making its way up her bed was now pressing on her feet. Her whole body went cold and stiff, as though her blood had frozen in her veins. She could even feel all the blood draining from her face.

The pressure travelled higher, it was by her knees now. It was travelling so slowly as if to prolong her agonising fear. She could hear it breathing, rasping and wheezing ever so slightly.

Adrenaline suddenly plunged through her small body, and Natalie tried to sit up, to look at her fear in its face so that the whole ordeal would be done with. Unfortunately she couldn't move her body. Her necked and shoulders strained as she tried to sit up, but some sort of weight was holding her down.

The quiet sniggering started up again and the smell was now intolerably strong. Natalie let out a long whine, similar to one an injured animal would make, and she felt the thing (which was at the bottom of her belly) freeze, as if it had suddenly realised she was there.

She gasped and began to cry very quietly.

Suddenly the thing moved quickly up to her face, scrambling as if eager to see its victim. Natalie was able to move now, feeling the crushing pressure gone, but the thing scrambled up too quickly.

As it shoved its face right into her, Natalie let out an almighty scream.


	6. The Closet

Natalie's terror-stricken scream ran through the apartment, dragging Lizzy out of her self-pitying stupor. She ran to the child's bedroom, just as Mickey scrambled naked out of the shower, grabbing a towel and covering himself quickly as he ran.

'It's just a nightmare,' he thought, his heart hammering hard in his chest, 'my little girl has had a nightmare that's all!'

His heart temporarily stopped as he saw Lizzy outside of Natalie's room, desperately trying to push it open. She had her entire left side pushing into it. The door was opened, but just a crack, and was shuddering as if something almost as strong as Lizzy was keeping it shut. Lizzy looked up at him, her face red with exertion and her eyes wild. 'Help me!' she seemed to scream silently, waking Mickey out of his shock and bringing him to her side and them both pushing at the door.

Whatever was on the other side began to double its efforts in response.

"God damn it!" Mickey ground out between clenched teeth.

Lizzy was completely silent. Through the door he could hear Natalie whimpering

"Natalie!" he screamed redundantly, "Natalie!"

Lizzy, however, closed her eyes and fell further into the dark recesses of her mind.

'Fred,' she whispered mentally into the darkness, 'Fred, Fred, please, Natalie needs you, she needs you!'

xxXXxx

In her bedroom, it was still pitch black and all Natalie could make out where odd shapes and the stark white faces of her tormenters.

She was now sitting with her knees up in the corner of her bed, her hands curled up like claws and gripping her face. She was breathing heavily through her mouth like someone on the verge of having a panic attack. At the side of the bed, just opposite her was another little girl, only she had short black hair that hung like rat tails around her face, red eyes with yellow irises and skin that was white and mottled.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but black slime and spiders scuttled out, preventing her from making any words. Natalie shuffled father away, her back pressed against the cool wall. The fact that she could feel so much is what let her know that she wasn't merely dreaming that this was horribly real.

The bedroom door was banging and shaking, making her more afraid, but she couldn't hear her father's desperate pleads.

After a moment of silent contemplation the girl at the end of the bed sat up on all fours. Her head and one of her arms were twisted in the wrong way, as if she were an animated corpse of a horrific car accident. The girl grinned, her teeth black and grey with slime flowing through them.

Natalie nearly threw up as the thing came close to her, and stretching out its hand went for her green necklace. As it did the necklace suddenly lit up, making the thing fall back with a loud shriek which sounded like it would belong to a bird more than a broken little girl. Green light lit up the room, chasing away all the shadows. Black tentacles shot out of the darkness, ripping into the destroyed body of the girl and ruining it even more before dragging it back in to the closet.

Natalie, the adrenaline rushing once more, leapt to her feet and stared into the closet. The girl was still shrieking in a bird like manner and shaking her head violently, inexplicably making black feathers fall out of what should have been hair.

Natalie sucked in a sharp breath when she looked into the closet and saw that, in between the swirling mass of black, oily tentacles, stood an unnaturally tall and slim woman. The woman looked down at Natalie, with such a ferocious glare tat, to Natalie's shame afterwards, she wet herself.

Just as the closet doors slammed shut, her bedroom door opened, making Lizzy and Mickey fall in, temporarily gaping at thermo before scooping up Natalie and pouring kisses all over her. But she couldn't stop staring at the closet. How would she ever explain this to them? How could she, a small girl with limited words, ever explain the insanity that had just been inflicted upon her?

She looked over at Lizzy. Natalie had always liked Lizzy. Lizzy was a nice lady. She was quiet and fun and kind, all the things her mother wasn't. Mother would be angry about messes or about her asking too many questions, or for not talking enough. Whereas Lizzy didn't mind mess, she would just ask Natalie to help her tidy it up and they would d it together. It was fun. Lizzy didn't mind answering questions, and would admit it when she didn't know the answer. In fact, Lizzy had been the one who taught her that adults didn't know everything and weren't always right. Lizzy also didn't mind if Natalie wanted to be quiet, if she didn't want to talk, especially if strangers were around.

But now, she looked at Lizzy's dark black, short hair and all she could think of was the monster in her room. She whimpered and closed her eyes, flinching when she felt Lizzy's arms around her. Natalie felt mean and ungrateful but she couldn't help it. Lizzy was scary to look at now.

Hadn't her mother told her a story about how there was a witch that looked like Lizzy, and that the witch had stolen away her daddy?

Natalie hadn't paid too much attention at the time. Lizzy had always seemed nice, and her daddy was still around. Plus, Fred had told her that mother had just said that to frighten her because she wanted to live with them again. Truth was, Natalie hadn't wanted her mother to live with her and daddy again. Mother wasn't nice and often made daddy sad. Things were better with just her and daddy.

But now, in her father's arms and with a wet bottom, she realised that maybe her mom had been right. That monster had looked like Lizzy, only scarier. And though daddy was still around, he now spent a lot of time talking to Lizzy and spending time with her. Even worse, Fred had been appearing less and less since her arrival. Maybe Lizzy was a witch. A lot of scary stuff had happened recently, was it all Lizzy's doing?

Natalie sighed, her father carrying her out of her room and Lizzy running her a bath.

'I need Fred,' she thought, sniffling to herself, 'why didn't he come?'

xxXXxx

Janey stirred the sugar into their coffees, before carrying the two mugs out of her kitchen and to her living room, where Annabella sat, her feet curled up onto the settee.

"Thanks," the blonde muttered, taking her coffee and sipping it.

"So," prompted Janey, "you were saying that after their disappearances you were arrested."

"Yeah, Stephen was convinced I had done something awful," Annabella wiped a shaking hand over her face, "but how could I spirit away to children in less than five minutes?"

"Did Sacha say anything?"

"No, he just stood there as his father screamed and me and dragged me out of the apartment. I was a mess, crying and screaming, but not because of him, I was just frightened, I kept telling him that we needed to find them that," she gulped, "that the tentacle monster had gotten them. I was thrown out onto the street. I wondered around for a few hours, asking strangers for help, that monsters had taken two children, but I just looked crazy." She glanced at Janey, her expression one of shame, "I saw myself in the mirror later. I was covered in bruises, my hair was a mess, and my make up was smudged. My feet were bleeding from trailing around in those heels half the night. I kicked them off and walked barefoot. Later, after the police transferred me to hospital, they had to clean and bandage them and give me pills to prevent any infection."

"They also gave you pills for delusions, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah," Annabella closed her eyes and bowed her head, "Yes, for eight days, I was in an emergency psychiatric unit. In the end I just played along, saying that I had imagined the whole thing because I was having a mental break down. The police couldn't find any evidence that I had done anything to the children, and apparently Sacha had simply stopped talking all together. They wouldn't let me see him," she opened her eyes and looked in to the distance, "I wanted to make him tell the truth, and for a while I was very angry at Sacha. But then with the help of my doctor, I realised that it was pointless being so mad about it. Sacha is going to be even more of a mess than I am. It was his brother and sister who were stolen. I can't imagine how he must be feeling.

"When I saw the police last, they seemed to be hinting on the idea that Stephen had done something terrible to the children, mentally damaging me and Sacha in the process. Plus, my psychiatrist decided that I was no immediate threat to anyone, apart from possibly myself. In the psychiatric ward they put me on suicide watch for two nights. They must have told the police, which would have added weight to the fact that I was innocent and hadn't hurt anyone but rather was a victim of some terrible crime." She shrugged as if she herself didn't feel that she agreed with their decision, "I'm still under investigation, and I'm still a main suspect, which is why I can't leave the city even though I'm frightened of this place now."

"Is there anywhere you would be able to go to feel safe?" asked Janey.

"I doubt it," Annabella grimaced, "I'll forever have this mark of someone being mentally unstable as well. I have to keep going to visit the psychiatrist, twice a week, because if I refuse they'll just section me again. The only reason they released me at all was because I phoned Marianne and begged her to let me stay with her or to help me find someplace in the city to live."

She looked briefly at Janey again, "I don't have a job, I don't have any money left. All I really had was Stephen but...well, that's all over now...or at least the relationship is. Even if I am proven innocent, we could never get back together.

"I went to Marianne for help because she's the only relative who still speaks to me but we're...strained," she looked at Janey and smirked in a self deprecating manner, "three years ago, before I met Charles, I stole my sister's fiancée. When it comes to men, I'm can be pretty despicable sometimes." She took in a deep breath, "anyway, it's why I am here. Marianne doesn't like me enough to keep me around too long, mental breakdown or not."

There was some silence for a while then. It was raining hard outside, and then women, sitting side by side, listened to it beating against the window for some time, before Janey came to a conclusion.

"Anna," she began, turning to the blonde, "I'm not going to judge you, I've had an affair before as well. I was having sex with one of my bosses at work, he was a married man, and I was doing it while Lizzy had been cheated on by Charles. I wasn't very...tactful myself, and I often make bad decisions, also usually about men." She smiled at Annabella's hopeful face, and inched closer to her and threw an arm around the woman's slight shoulders, "we all make mistakes," she continued, "but that's no reason to keep beating ourselves up. We just have to learn from them.

"This thing about the children, I believe. I've seen plenty of weird things in my life, floating children and imaginary friends, and I know better than to immediately disbelieve someone. I'm fine with you staying here, but you will need to keep on going to that psychiatrist, ok?"

Anna sniffed and nodded, leaning her head down onto Janey. "Thanks," she said, "I think I kind of needed that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought we'd finish this chapter on a wind-down. I also wanted to give Annabella some humanity. I want her to come across as pretty self centred here, but also I wanted her to be someone you could still feel bad for, despite her bitchy side. I also thought it was important to note that Janey was also a 'mistress' but us fans aren't as hard on her because we like her. As Anna is going to be in this story, I thought it only fair to give her a chance.


	7. Falling Apart

As Mickey washed an almost catatonic Natalie in the bath, Lizzy left them in peace (she had noticed Natalie flinching away from her when she had reached out and touched her arm) and instead went back into Natalie's room.

The destruction was significant. The bed had been shook into the middle of the room. Black footsteps made by small feet were on the floor, leading from the closet and onto Natalie's bad.

'They weren't made by Natalie, her feet weren't that dirty. Whatever came in,' she thought, 'it came from the closet and climbed on top of her,' she shuddered, not being able to imagine the terror Natalie must have felt. The wallpaper had been ripped off the walls as well as all of Natalie's pictures and paintings, and the doors of the closet had been ripped off by their hinges, almost as if something large and wild had broken out of the closet and torn up the room haphazardly.

Going to the closet she searched through the clothes. Some of them were burned and there was a sharp smell of acrid sulphur. Lizzy wrinkled her nose in disgust and came out of the closet, unable to see or smell anything else that was unusual.

On her knees in front of the closet she closed her eyes and once more called for Fred to please hurry up and to go to Natalie, who needed him desperately. She opened her eyes and sighed, running her hand through short hair.

"We'll have to call Joanne," Mickey heard Lizzy speak behind him. He was kneeling against the bath, pouring water on his poor, frightened child's back. He noticed the girl freeze as Lizzy entered the room. He looked at Lizzy and saw her looking sadly at Natalie; she must have seen the girl flinch as well. For some inexplicable reason, he felt slightly angry at Lizzy.

He stood up, "why should we call Joanne?" he challenged, "Natalie needs love and comfort. God knows Joanne won't offer that." He frowned in frustration as Lizzy, instead of standing up to him, seemed to shrink in the doorway and bowed her head.

"But Joanne's her mother," she answered lowly, "I-I just think it'd be a good idea, y'know, because if we say nothing and she finds out, things will be worse for us."

"You call her if you want," he bit out, feeling angry and bitter and upset for his daughter, "I won't do anything else to traumatise my little girl." He knelt back down at the bath and continued bathing Natalie, both the little girl and he having their backs on Lizzy.

Quietly, she slipped away and went downstairs. Sitting on the settee she looked at the phone before quietly beginning to sob.

'It's my fault,' she thought, 'I was unhappy in this relationship and I was sulking and he knows. I was being unreasonable and now it is all my fault.'

xxXXxx

Joanne was at her cold and clinical apartment; the walls were a pale shade of grey, the floors were laid with polished wooden planks, a large flat screen was the only extravagant appliance left out in the open, everything else was neatly packed away. Joanne sat at her desk, looking over her the minute notes taken from her various meetings that day. She would need to read through them all, configure them into number data and use that data to improve services t her workplace. It was long and tedious work, but she enjoyed it.

A photo sat on the desk, one of a gap toothed smiling girl. It was a picture of Natalie, though now the picture was obscured by the many papers and files and a half drunk coffee cup.

The telephone suddenly rang. Joanne stared at it for a while. It was late, and so it was unlikely to be anyone from the office and more likely to be a family member. She didn't have any friends. Joanne finally took a deep, steadying breath and picked up the phone.

"Hello."

"Ah, um, hello, Joanne it's Lizzy."

Joanne closed her eyes dejectedly. 'damn,' she thought, 'not this bumbling stuttering idiot, now I'll have to a conversation! I should have never picked up the phone! Never mind, I'll just make her too anxious to want to stay on for too long.'

"What is it?" she demanded.

"I-it's Natalie. She's really frightened...something happened to her."

"What? What have you done to her?"

"Nothing! But I think she was perhaps attacked tonight. There was screaming in her bedroom, so Mickey and I ran to her room. Inside, there's nothing there, but the room was a mess and she was scared, we think someone broke in."

"Definitely not a nightmare or her sleepwalking and causing the mess?"

"Natalie doesn't sleepwalk, and she isn't strong enough to cause some of the damage made in the room. I just wanted to let you know."  
Joanne pursed her lips, "why didn't Mickey call me?"

"He's with Natalie, we thought it best that he not leave her."

Joanne clucked her tongue and sat silently for a moment, the phone still pressed against her ear. She could hear Lizzy breathing quietly on the other side, waiting to hear her response. 'Maybe this will be a good opportunity to get back with Mickey,' she thought, 'I can show off my loving motherly side, so that he no longer thinks I'm some sort of ice queen. Maybe I can get my daughter to like me more than Lizzy, get her to realise that she should love me more than her stupid step mommy. If Natalie loves me more, it will be much easier to get Mickey back on side. It was more so mine and Natalie's bad relationship that put Mickey out of sorts, (even though that was ridiculous, Natalie's only a child, we don't need to have a relationship, not like a friendship or anything like that. Natalie just needs to do as she's told and go off and play while I get on with important things, like paperwork. But Mickey will come to understand that, if I can get back with him.) And it's not even like Lizzy and Mickey are married, so it'll be easy to get back in there. Plus, if I'm being called (even if it is by Lizzy) that must mean I'm still considered necessary to Mickey and Natalie.

"I have an important appointment tomorrow," she said at last, "but as Natalie is important I shall come visit her tonight. I want everything ready for when I come, a room for me to sleep in, and no canoodling with Mickey while I'm there, this is about my family, and whether you like it or not Lizzy, we're still a family."

"That's fine," replied Lizzy quietly, thinking that Mickey probably didn't want to 'canoodle' with her anyway.

Joanne allowed herself a small, sharp smile to briefly alight her face. She liked it when people obeyed her. It was really quite disgusted how Mickey went for such a demure, spineless woman. She never thought that had been his type, he had always preferred fierce women, like herself.

"Good. I'm glad we agree. I shall arrive in about an hour."

"See you then," Lizzy said, only to find that Joanne had already hung up.

Slowly she stood up and wandered over to the window, glancing to the outside. The dark was impenetrable, and she couldn't make anything out. She wondered if she had done the wrong thing, if bringing Joanne was simply going to make a bad situation worse.

'But I can't deny Natalie her real mother,' she thought, 'especially as she seemed afraid of me just now. Plus, if things get too bad, I'll move out for a while, maybe with Janey.'

Feeling somewhat better, realising that at least she had options now, (options that were preferable to staying in a bad relationship) she instead turned her thoughts to Fred and why he didn't go to Natalie when she needed him.

xxXXxx

Fred was in Otherworld, shivering under a tree. The whole world was dark, the grass was starting to die, the atmosphere cold and desolate, heavy black clouds blocked out the sun and it was raining heavily, causing Fred and his companions to seek shelter under the last remaining tree.

"Nerthus is really angry," whimpered one of the beings standing next to Fred, he was a small man wearing an all-green suit.

There were, in fact, eight people under the tree. They all looked reasonably human and they all wore green outfits, but that was where the similarity ended. The small group were a mix of male and female, and some were significantly older than others.

"One of us should go to her," said a female with big green eyes and long blonde hair, "maybe get her to calm down. We've always been good at cheering her up!"

"Not anymore," said a man who looked like he was in his late thirties, "she likes us as children, not as adults. We just annoy her as adults. Plus, she'll kill some of us for the things we've been up to in her absence."

He glanced at Fred, who looked like he was trying to make himself smaller.

"Then," said the girl awkwardly, "then...then maybe we should get her offspring down here?"

"Oh yeah," sneered Fred sullenly, "great idea. Let's go visit the Terrible Twins. They'll probably eat us on sight. I hate this. Why is she back now and where is the seer? My girl is scared, I need to go to her..."

"You'll only make things worse for all of us you twit!" barked a brunet male. "Just stay still and wait. If you run she might send her birds again."

"We have to do something!" the blonde girl nearly shrieked, "I can't stand this! Can't anyone think of something?"

"No one can stand it," the brunet bit back, "but of course none of us can think of anything. How can we think? We never think about anything, it's why most of us are dead. We're just elves, we sit around and go to Nerthus when she calls us and that is that. Our whole existence is to just keep her happy. And we all failed and she got locked up so now that's she's free we're all in deep trouble."

A shard of lightening flew across the sky, temporarily bathing the land in light, before it was gone again, and in its place there was a deep, rumbling growl of thunder shook them all.

They all whimpered and cowered together.

Then Fred grabbed the blonde girls arm. She gave him a frightened look.

"Come on," he said, "we have to do something, like you said. Let's go talk to someone." He glanced at a tall series of towers in the distance that made up Nerthus's home, "her birds might not notice us gone because it's so dark and the weather is so wild. We can even run, come on!"

She nodded, deciding that doing something was better than waiting around terrified. Elves were much better at action than they ever were with stoic bravery. It's just the way they were.

The other green-clad creatures watched fearfully as the two ran away over the hill, far away from Nerthus, her tall tower and terrifying anger.


	8. Dokkalfar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time- In the distant past, a young boy Fridurick was sacrificed by his village for a misdemeanour, but before he could drown, he was dragged deep under the marsh.
> 
> In present time, Mickey and Lizzy come to a disagreement, depressing Lizzy even more about their relationship. She calls Natalie's mother because something has attacked Natalie.
> 
> In Otherworld, Fred and a few others, afraid of a mysterious presence called Nerthus that has taken over their land, runaway to get help.

Fred and the blonde elf-girl ran to the literal edge of their world. They skidded to a halt, looking out into the great vastness of stars and blackness. After a moment of rare quiet contemplation they got onto their hands and knees and crawled over the edge underneath the plate of their earth. Once on the other side, it seemed like everything was the right way up again, and the two stood. The place they were in now was very white and covered in mist. There was no light, no sky and no colour other than the blank whiteness.

Occasionally, electric blue lights shot across the landscape. The elves froze and shrank back whenever they saw these. The blues lights were tiny pixies, and pixies were not nice creatures.

"So we are going to see the twins then?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah," muttered Fred, "I don't see who else we can go to. 'sides, they might know where the seer is."

They walked carefully in the whiteness, often getting stuck in gloopy white mud, or suddenly falling into small pools of freezing water. "Ugh," the girl complained, "I hate this place!"

Fred didn't say anything.

Eventually they came to an edge of a vast cave. There was some warmth emanating from inside it, and soft music could be heard. The pair walked in cautiously, looking around and anxiously noting the hundreds of glowing pale blue eyes watching them from the cavern's rafters.

She whimpered and gripped his arm, though he looked terrified himself. Goblins were not pleasant creatures, and even beings as naturally wild and aggressive as elves knew to walk carefully if they didn't want to get attacked.

As they left the shadowy part of the cave, it opened up to a large bright hall. Candles were held up on the walls, each burning furious white flames. The floor was of the same white rock as the rest of the cave, but it had clearly been sanded down and polished so that one could walk upon it with bare feet without causing themselves injury.

In the middle of this hall was a large four poster bed, complete with black sheets and a thick red quilt that Lizzy's mom would have thought looked tacky and cheap, but what Isabella would have loved. On the bed cavorting and giggling, were two blondes, a male and a female.

Fred gaped for a while at their friskiness and his blonde companion laughed loudly, (both resisted the strong urge to jump into the fray and join in.) On her loud laughter, the two blonde lovers looked up and grinned at their guests.

"Fred and Mina," cooed the male, "what brings you back to these parts? And together no less, you creatures tend to be fairly independent of one another."

"Do you want to join our bed," smirked the woman, "we're getting ready to bring in spring for the northern European countries, we could use all the help we could get." She grinned at her male counterpart, "We'll give the farmers a good season this year!"

Fred wrinkled his nose, not knowing how much he liked the idea, when Mina cried out, "we can't join in Lady Freya and Mister Freyr, we're so sorry."

Freya's and Freyr's eyes suddenly darkened dangerously, and all signs of their good humour swept away. Even the hall seemed to darken. Fred inched closer to Mina.

"Then what do you want, elves?"

"Nerthus your mother has come back," hissed Fred, when it was clear that mina was too afraid to speak and a minute away from running away in fear.

"What?" Freya leapt up and stood on her bed, wild blonde locks suddenly standing on end, making her look like Medusa. Her brother sunk further into his bed with wide eyes.

"How can mummy be back?" She cried, "she was locked up for her gregarious want of power hundreds of years ago! Was it you stupid creatures? I bet you did something didn't you?" Her face began to darken as her hair also began to turn to a coal black. Sharp fangs began to replace what were pearly white human teeth.

"We didn't do anything we swear!" argued Mina.

"She's making trouble in the Middle Realm," continued Fred, hoping to sidetrack the monstrous goddess, "she's frightening our charges."

"Worried about your human brats as usual Fridurick," hissed Freya, though her anger was abating a little, "in that case, I think you ought to go to her."

As soon as the words left her mouth, the whole underside of Otherworld began to tip to the side and became covered in black as a huge gaping hole ripped through the icy landscape. There were shrieks of animalistic joy as every evil being from the land began to run and leap through the void.

"Sister," cried Freyr moving up to Freya with unnatural speed, "what is the point in this?"

"We need to play mummy by her own game," replied a newly blonde Freya who was now grinning wickedly, "she's too greedy for her own good, and won't have changed after all her years in captivity. In fact she'll be furious, and I'll be damned if she ruins the earth and our fun."

She kissed her brother passionately before declaring to her elves, "go into the world and do what comes naturally to you," Fred and Mina felt their blood pumping and excitement flushing though their veins, "bring down unholy chaos upon Nerthus and her plans. Find the seer and destroy everything."

Mina and Fred, along with so many other creatures, leapt into the void as the world behind them began to be eaten up by the darkness.

"You fool!" Freyr screamed at his sister, "They're idiots! they won't remember anything you've told them!"

"I've already thought it through," answered Freya calmly, "Fridurick will remember, because he has humans who love him down there."

xxXXxx

Joanne was almost at Mickey's house (it used to be their's) but as usual the traffic was reasonably heavy despite the late hour. At that moment in time she was on a bridge overlooking a vast river. It wasn't as impressive as the Manhattan Bridge, but it was obvious that this small town had stolen the design and had re-done it on a much smaller scale.

Stuck in traffic for a moment, she grabbed her coffee and gulped it down, relishing its scorching heat. She ignored the idiots either side of her, on one side was a disgusting lurid pink limo with girls inexplicably wearing sunglasses and screaming out of its sun roof.

'This isn't fucking Hollywood,' she thought bitterly.

On the other side were a bunch of home-grown jocks, all chanting and jeering over some game they had one. She squinted her eyes and tried to ignore the fact that they were now mooning her.

Suddenly, she dropped her coffee. It split all over the floor and even splashed a little onto her feet and legs, but she never felt it.

To the side, the limo girls began to scream in fear and the jocks all stopped mooning and instead stared gaping at the massive, grey and red tentacle that had just appeared out of the river.

Never taking her eyes off the waving appendage, Joanne fumbled for the door handle and stood outside her car. People all around her were doing the same until slowly the tentacle fell down onto the bridge. There was a mass scream as cars and people were suddenly crushed.

Everyone began to run, including Joanne. The tentacle raised itself up again ready beat down even harder this time...

Joanne joined in with the united scream of those around her as, with a huge shriek of broken metal and then the thunderous crashing sound of mortar, metal and bricks being torn down and falling into the fast-running wide river below, the ground suddenly lurched so that they were running upwards and instead of straight. The tentacle had beaten down the middle of the bridge, breaking it in half and tipping the sides.

'No, no, no, no, no!' Joanne's mind began to panic, 'please God whatever I did wrong, please, please!'

Around her people began to lose their footing and rolled down the length of road to their deaths. Joanne had kicked off her heels and was using her hands as well as her feet to scramble upwards. Her manicured nails were smashed against the unforgiving tarmac, but she didn't care. She just needed to escape alive!

It was then that the cars began to roll backwards. Joanne let out one final terrible scream as a black ford focus fell onto her.

"Janey! JANEY!"

Janey woke up unattractively with a snort and some drool hanging off the side of her mouth. She was in bedroom on top of her bed and her head was throbbing. Ah that's right, wine, too much wine, with Annabella, who was now calling for her.

"Janey hurry! Look at this!"

Janey sauntered into the living room yawning, "this better be good Anna."

Annabella was wearing Janey's nightclothes (a vest top and shorts that looked way sexier on Annabella that what was right and fair) and standing in front of the television. Janey watched as a bridge was ripped down by several strange, gigantic tentacles poking out of the river.

"What is this some horror flick?" she muttered wondering why Annabella would wake her up just for this.

"Wait, no, isn't that our bridge?" then she noticed the logo at the bottom left of the screen, it was their local news station logo.

"Oh my god," Janey sank down and the couch and Annabella with her.

"That's what attacked the children, only it was much, much smaller before!"

"Attacks like this have been happening all over town!" cried a news anchor, "people are being told to stay indoors. We will get footage as soon as possible but several of our people on foot have been attacked and some are missing. Please stay indoors!"

They had more helicopter shots of shadowy beings running through the city, smashing and breaking everything in sight.

"They seem to be heading further out to the suburbs!" the anchor continued, "we aren't sure what these things are, some seem human but others less so. Please stay indoors! We will get more information as soon as possible!"

Janey began to breath very fast as her mind went into overdrive. Unlike Annabella who, when panicked, stopped thinking, Janey thoughts became inhumanely fast and focused.

"Right, Anna you need to find my tools, they're under my kitchen sink, and I need you to start hammering the windows shut. I need to call Lizzy and then I'll join you. We need to make this place secure, go!"

Annabella nodded anxiously and went off to do Janey's bidding, forgetting the fact that she had never held a hammer in her life, never mind nailed a window shut.

xxXXxx

"I'm sorry Lizzy."

Lizzy turned around to see Mickey standing in the hallway, the light shining on his back and dousing him in shadow. She had been sitting in the dark, crying over her situation. Desperately she rubbed her eyes, knowing that Fred would have mocked her for such weakness.

"It's ok," she responded thickly, "it's my fault Mickey."

He still had Natalie in his arms, but she was asleep now, premature lines of worry and stress on her face. He placed her down on the settee and held out his arms for Lizzy. As they hugged him, she felt that it was all her fault; it was her duty to be more loving, to obey him, to do as he wanted...

The phone rang out rudely interrupting their moment of calm.

Mickey let go of Lizzy and picked it up, "hello? Oh hey Janey!" Mickey found himself suddenly feeling a whole lot better hearing the cheerful woman's voice, but it didn't last long.

Lizzy watched with interest as Mickey's face went from benevolent, to confused, to frightened. "Lizzy turn on the TV!"

She did as he asked and immediately the news was on instead of the usual programming. A female news anchor was in the middle of the city on the streets. Her hair was blowing about wildly in t harsh winds that hadn't affected the area where they were living.

"As you can see," she was shouting over the wind, "the weather has become increasingly bizarre, it's raining four blocks to the left and snowing five blocks to the right. No one can understand what's going on other than we are all in danger. The weather is going up to storm like conditions wherever we are downtown!"

They cut to a computer generated weather map of the town, showing a strange navy blue cloud spreading over the town and out to the suburbs.

They returned to the windswept reporter. "The phenomenon seems to have started in the centre of our city and is rapidly spreading outwards. Everyone is advised to stay indoors." Suddenly something abnormally fast grabbed the reporter dragging her away whilst she screamed. The camera whirled in the shock before the cameraman, still recording, began to chase after the reporter. The cameraman said nothing but they could hear his breathing as he ran towards the distant screams of the woman.

"Uh, uh, we're not sure what happened there," the screen split in two, one half still showing the cameraman running, and the other showing the anchor back at the station, "which cameraman is that?" he asked someone off screen whilst pushing down on his ear piece. There was a murmur off screen in response. "Oh, ok, viewers, the cameraman is Joe. Joe, Joe, please answer us, do you know what is happening?" But the cameraman didn't answer; instead he and his lighting and sound team ran into a small alleyway.

A large shadowy creature was holding up the female reporter, who was now covered in blood and screaming.

"Viewers we understand that this is extremely distressing and we may stop all transmissions in a moment to spare you." The anchor babbled as the media team cautiously drew closer to the creature and the reporter. "We also want all our viewers to know that we care a lot about our team here and e have called the authorities, OH SWEET JESUS!"

The lighting guy and cameraman man had both shone their lights at the creature, revealing it to be a hideous monstrous being. It wasn't clear if it was male or female, but it had scales instead of skin, like a snake, and it's eyes glowed a deep red. It had long white hair that was flowing out in all directions, and sharp claws instead of finger nails. It looked at the crew and let out a terrible, ear splitting scream that woke Natalie and made Mickey and Lizzy fall to the floor in agony and shock. The television scream temporarily turned to static cutting off the terrible wail.

The three individuals stood up shakily in the living room, Natalie more shocked than anyone else as she had been so rudely awakened.

The screen came back on just in time to show the cameraman Joe screaming in terror at the camera as the creature tore him apart. Natalie screamed in perfect horror, making Lizzy and Mickey run to her and hold her tightly. The news team quickly stopped the transmission and went back to the pale-faced news anchor in the studio. He was breathing hard.

"We-we...oh god...ladies and gentleman, we do not know what has attacked our city or how these beings arrived, but we need you to stay indoors. We are getting reports," he looked down at his messy papers on the desk, "of people being killed and...and eaten. Please, stay indoors and make your homes as safe as possible."

As he spoke Lizzy lay Natalie back down and began to sooth the exhausted girl back to sleep. 'She'll think this was just a nightmare tomorrow,' Lizzy hoped fervently.

Mickey put the phone back to his ear, "Janey, how long ago did this all start?"

"I don't know," she answered, "but you need to lock up your house already! Those things come after children, and I don't want to risk anything after what happened in the shop this afternoon."

"Ok, thanks and Janey?"

"Yeah?"

"Take care of yourself."

Janey smiled at the receiver before putting it down.

"Lizzy we need to lock up the house before those things come back. Lizzy?"

Lizzy was staring at the television screen. She pointed with a shaking hand to the demolished bridge, "I-I called Joanne," she stammered, her eyes wide with horror and a crushing guilt, "I called her. She would've been on that bridge Mickey."

Mickey looked at the sight on the television and felt his knees weaken and the blood drain from his face. He and Joanne had been out of love for a long time, but he still cared deeply about her. She had been the mother of his most blessed possession in the entire world; of the person he loved the most and for only the person who's his love of was completely unwavering. He still had spent years with Joanne, trying to rekindle their first passion. Now watching the last bits of the bridge tumbling into the deep, fast river, he suddenly could only remember the good time, the first time he had seen her in college, her red hair shining in the sun while she curled up under a tree reading a textbook, looking like something out of a fairytale.

He couldn't believe she was gone. Even as Lizzy began to cry piteously, slumped next to an unconscious Natalie, all he could do was stand there in shock.


	9. Samhain II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last Time: A young boy named Fridurick who lived in Neolithic Germania was drowned in a bog because of a misdemeanour against their goddess Nerthus.
> 
> And now...
> 
> Samhain II- Welcome to Alfheimer
> 
> 'That which is called Álfheim is one, where dwell the peoples called Ljósálfar (Light-Elves); but the dökkálfar (Dark-Elves) dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike in appearance, but by far more unlike in nature. The Light-elves are fairer to look upon than the sun, but the Dark-elves are blacker than pitch.'
> 
> Gylfaginning Snorri Sturluson

Something cold and strong coiled itself around his ankle and suddenly pulled him down into the mud with great force.

Without thinking, Fridurick immediately screamed, only to get a mouthful of mud. He began to thrash wildly, chocking on the disgusting cold, slimy stuff that was leaking into his lungs and killing him. His chest began to burn with exertion, his limbs sore from hitting out into the thick, unforgiving mud that surrounded him. His thoughts became fuzzy and it was a relief when darkness took him over.

At some point, the darkness began to fade, and suddenly it wasn't pitch-black anymore. He could hear a distant dip, drop, drip, drop...

Slowly Fridurick became aware of his body. It was stiff, and tired and very cold. He groaned painfully and opened his bright blue eyes.

He was surrounded by white. He blinked a few times not understanding, before sitting up and looking around. He was still wearing hardly anything and usually the cold did not bother him (like most people who had survived as long as him in those times in Germania, he had grown pretty tough) but now he was shaking profusely. It embarrassed him a little.

He got to his feet and continued to blink sullenly looking about him. He did not recognise this place. It was white and stony all over, though he could hear water running and dripping in the distance.

"Hello?" he called out, but only an echo responded. Fridurick made a sulky noise in the back of his throat and crossed his arms.

'Am I dead?' he wondered, 'and is this some kind of...place for bad people?'

Fridurick supposed he was, technically, a bad person, though he didn't really feel that he deserved the title or this level of punishment. It wasn't like anyone was killed in the fire or anything...

Suddenly there was a whizzing sound. Fridurick looked up to see several burning tiny balls of blue light flying towards him at top speed. He yelped as they flew past him and his skin erupted in pain. He looked down and saw some of the blue balls were still on him and causing him injury, though on closer inspection he saw that they were tiny winged blue humanoids that were viciously biting him.

"Ow, get off!" he roared, putting them off (making his skin bleed) and throwing them on the ground roughly. He proceeded then to stamp on one and to throw rocks at the others. The survivors sped away quickly.

"Woah, you're violent."

Fridurick whirled around to see a very pretty blonde boy and girl watching him. They had unnaturally bright and light skin (almost as if there was a light inside of them, lighting them up), very glossy long hair (even the boy) and a full set of white teeth and white robes not dissimilar to Roman togas.

"Who are you?" He asked, wondering if they had been killed like him. Only he was covered in mud and slime, where they looked amazing.

"We're your new masters," the boy grinned, "mummy bought you here because she likes to keep human children as her pets. You are to entertain us."

Fridurick snorted, "I don't have a master. No one tells me what to do."

"Nerthus does," replied the twins in unison, grinning maliciously as they peered at him.

"I've been murdered because of Nerthus!" he bit back, "where am I? Can I go back home?" he looked at his body, "I don't feel very dead," he said quietly, more to himself than the other two.

They slid down from the rocks they had been peeking over and walked over to Fridurick, one standing on either side of him. He now saw that on top of being beautiful and healthy, they also were a fair bit taller and built than he was (not that that was difficult, living off little food in a land of little light meant that Fridurick was pretty scrawny and unhealthy). He frowned at them but they paid no heed to his animosity.

"I am Freyr," said the boy, "and this is my sister Freya. We love each other very much." The twins stood in front of Fred and held hands whilst looking at each other so fondly that Fridurick pulled his most disgusted face. "We're going to take you to Nerthus now."

Fridurick suddenly felt very cold as blood drained from his face, "what do you mean you are taking me to Nerthus!" he screamed making the twins wince, "she's a goddess, I can't meet her! Besides I set fire to her! She'll kill me!"

"You said you were already dead," grinned Freya glancing sideways at him

"Well obviously I'm not," Fridurick crossed his arms, "I can still breath and I can feel my heart beating, so I must be alive. I want out of here and to go back home. Isn't all of this punishment enough? I just want to go home now."

"Well come with us and let's find out."

They took Fridurick inside a deep cavern, one that they would live in when they were full-fledged adults. As they entered the main hall, instead of a bed being placed in its centre, there was a large black throne. Upon this throne sat the tallest woman Fridurick had ever seen. She wore a long shimmering black robe that covered her feet. She held in her right hand a sceptre decorated with engravings of wagons, lakes and oxen. Her skin was pale and bloodless and her lips a deep green. Her hair was ice-white and piled high upon her head, with a few braids hanging down with beads wrapped around them.

"This is Nerthus," said Freyr gently pushing Fridurick further towards her.

Nerthus looked down at Fridurick a nasty smirk appearing on her lips. "Hello Fridurick," she said, her voice low and cold, "you are to join my merry little people, my twins have been quite excited about meeting you."

Fridurick whirled around and stared at the tall children radiating light behind him. They grinned at him.

"Th-they're your children?" he gasped, "so you are a god and goddess?"

Freya smiled sweetly, "not yet, but we soon will be."

"Never!" Nerthus suddenly barked out, her voice so frightening that Fridurick almost collapsed out of fear. She was still sitting on her throne as still as a deadly snake watching its prey and preparing to snap.

"Freyr and Freya will have some power," she said back in her normal tone, "I have given them the gift of governing spring. But they shall never be as powerful as I am."

The twins scowled slightly, but were wise enough to restrain themselves in front of their mother. Nerthus had now turned her attention back to Fridurick, evidently done with her children.

"You will live here now," she said, "and you will entertain my children. They have a habit of getting in the way and in trouble, but you will be their new playmate and will do whatever they ask, as long as it keeps them out of my face." She hissed the last part so viciously that Fridurick couldn't believe that she was the goddess in charge of watching over their births and fertility.

"M-may I," he began furtively, "may I go home at some point? Maybe after playing with them for a while?"

Nerthus gave him another hideous smirk and behind her figures began to shift in the darkness.

"You little fool," she purred, "you burned my effigy, you owe me a sacrifice and I will only accept you and your youth and so you will give it to me." Out of the shadows figures began to crawl out, children of all ages, some as white as Nerthus and wearing black. All of them had blank eyes and looked disturbingly vacant. "Children that are taken become our little pets, our elves and shades. You belong to me now and by extension my children. No one ever leaves here. You stay with me until I you are too old and too boring, and then you pass on to another world, into the truest death, into the darkness." Seeing Fridurick's horrified face, she smiled and leaned forward, "I will make a deal with you, if you like, if you are a good boy, and do exactly as I want, then when you are older and I grow bored of you, I will allow you to return to your family. How is that?"

Fridurick breathed heavily wondering what to do. "Is there no other way?" he whimpered, "I'm sorry about burning your statue, but it was an accident. Please, can I not go home sooner?"

"You ask too much!" she bellowed the wind whipping towards him throwing flecks of ice at his face and cutting his skin.

"Alright," he said tiredly, lowering his injured arms from around his face, "I accept. I will do what you want, just let me go home when I'm an adult."

Nerthus leaned back and grinned like a shark, "I promise you," she intoned, "that you will never be apart from your family."

Freyr and Freya almost had to carry Fridurick out of the cave. He was so shaken up he could barely put one foot in front of the other. When they finally made it outside, they let him sit down for a minute. His head dropped and he looked blankly at the white rocks between his legs. He was in shock.

"Will I be like them," he asked, "will I be like those children in there?"

"Not exactly," Freyr put his arm around Fridurick, "we don't want you to be a mindless doll." He glanced up at his sister who raised an eyebrow in question, but said nothing, "you'll have fun with us," he continued, "you get to play and mess around and to eat good food. You will like it with us. Then you can go back home, that's a lot better than what all the others get."

Freya rolled her eyes and shook her head in disapproval but Fridurick still did not see because he was still staring at the ground.

Losing patience, Freya took Fridurick's arms and dragged him up onto his feet. Gripping his forearms she looked him in the face. "You cannot go back home," she said in a firm voice very similar to her mothers, "you have to stay here and you have to obey. But at least you are with me and Freyr, you could have it a lot worse. Now come on, we have to go home."

They began to walk in a straight line, walking continuously until they got to the end of the world. Looking out into the vastness of space Fridurick screamed and leapt back, causing the other two to chuckle lightly. "Don't be afraid," said Freya as she held out her hand to the frightened red-head. Fridurick looked at the two child-gods. They looked beautiful behind them was the backdrop of infinite space, the stars and galaxies lighting up their hair and glittering in their blue eyes.

"Don't be afraid," Freyr echoed his sister.

Slowly Fred let out his arm which was grasped by Freya. With one long step all three of them stood forward and landed on the other side of the plain. Fridurick blinked the sunlight hurting his eyes. This land was a vast field, as if permanent spring time. The light breeze was scented with flowers, the sky was an azalea blue with fluffy white clouds merrily floating in a circular motion upon it. In the centre of this vast place was a huge, twisting tree that reached up into the sky.

"Welcome to Alfheimer," smiled Freya.

"And that's home," said Freyr pointing at the tree.

"Race you there," cried Freya pushing Fridurick.

He grinned as the two gods ran away, and after strengthening his resolve to keep his promise to Nerthus so that he could go home, Fridurick set off after them.

Inside the tree was a large, circular home. In its centre was a spiralling staircase which would lead the children up the tree and into higher rooms.

"Up there we have a few play rooms," informed Freya, pointed upstairs, "and some bedrooms, though we won't really need those..."

"Don't you have a bed-time?" Fridurick asked. Unlike most modern children, Fridurick actually quite liked sleep. Sometimes in his village sleep was the only respite from the day to day cold, hard toil in the fields and misery.

"No," answered the goddess, "mummy doesn't care too much about when we go to sleep." Fridurick felt like she needed to explain it in more detail, but decided not to push it as he didn't care about an explanation that much.

"Right now we're standing in the kitchen." Indeed next to them there was a small counter with a basin to one side, a window just above it and to the side was a pump for getting water. On the wall round to the side of the basin was another counter with stools underneath it, serving as a sort of archaic breakfast bar.

"So gods do eat," said Fridurick, realising that one of his oldest questions was now being answered.

"We don't have to," said Freyr, "but we like to eat the offerings humans make us." He shared a glance with his sister, as if they were using telepathy to agree whether or not Fridurick should be told more information. Evidently they decided that they could tell him, "the more offerings we get, the more humans sacrifice for us, then the more powerful we become. So, we don't have to eat, but we like to." He grinned at Fridurick, who frowned at the child-god's sharp canines.

"Round the back," Freya pointed at a silk green curtain being held up by a railing which served as a door, "is a small sitting room where we can relax. So as you can see, we have a lovely big home."  
"It is big," said Fridurick with wonder, "how does the tree stay alive?"

"It's magic," answered Freyr as if that were obvious, "and it's very important, it represents everything Freya and I are all about; youth and fertility and protection."

Fridurick beamed, "that's kind of nice. I wish we had worshipped you guys instead of your mum..." suddenly Fridurick clamped his hands over his mouth. He was so stupid! Now he had blasphemed against Nerthus again, this time in front of her children!

However, the two deities laughed and pulled Fridurick's hands down from his mouth.

"We wish you had worshipped us as well," smiled Freya, looking radiant and beautiful, "we want to be stronger than what we are, we think mummy is a bit too blood thirsty, we would be much nicer gods to worship."

Freyr pushed Fridurick onto one of the kitchen stools and said in a very serious voice, "Fridurick...Fride," he shortened, "we need you to understand that you are one of us now, you are our servant and our playmate. You mustn't repeat anything we have said to you here to mummy. Is that understood?"

Fridurick nodded, he would rather be allied to two deities he understood rather than the scary Nerthus; plus, if he pleased them, maybe they would let him go back home sooner.

"It's also pretty big," he continued, "I mean, there are only three of us."

"Well this is the thing Fride," grinned Freyr, "we would like more children to come live with us here."

"But that means we need to take them away from the Middle Realm, your world," continued Freya.

The twins grinned at Fridurick, making him feel uncomfortable.

"We want you to help us," they chimed.

"H-how?"

"Well," smirked Freyr, giving a side long glance at his sister, "if we teach you a bit of magic, we would like you to help us trick a few children into coming here."

Fridurick felt acutely uncomfortable now. Tricking other children? Sure, Alfheimer seemed like a nice place, but he had only been there for a few minutes, it was hardly enough time to decide if it was a good place to make other children go.

"What about their parents?" he asked, "I know you don't like your mother too much, but most kids in my world do like them. I don't think they'll want to be parted."

Freya crouched down beside Fridurick, making their heights more equal. "Fride," she said, sitting close and smelling faintly of flowers, "a lot of parents on the middle realm are very cruel to their children. They beat them, or have them go without food, or make them compete with their siblings for love and sometimes do even worse than that, but I daren't explain it all to you because your heart would be so broken." Fridurick stared at her wide blue eyes and almost felt like he was being enchanted, "we want these children to have a better life," she continued, "and they will with us. If we take you to middle realm, will you believe is then?"

"Maybe," he breathed entranced, and she smirked and moved away shortly afterwards.

"Excellent," announced Freyr, "then I propose that we teach Fride here a little magic!"


	10. Samhain III

"We'll just teach you the basics," said Freyr, "namely, how to travel with speed and how to get from this realm to the middle realm."

"I thought that the only humans that could use magic were women who were born with it?" Fride queried thinking back to the priestesses of his village; men fought, women made magic. It's how things worked back home.

"That is true, but we can get some magic and put it into you." Freyr nodded to his sister, who was rooting around in one of the kitchen cupboards. Eventually she pulled out a small dial. Inside the dial was something sparkling and floating.

"It kinda looks like a little pixie," Fride gasped.

"I suppose so, but it isn't anything alive and conscious. This is magic. Magic is like energy." Freya looked into Fride's dark blue eyes, "it's also a secret, mummy doesn't know we have this and you must never tell her."

They spilled the floating sparkles on to the side and using a butter knife, separated a tiny piece of it before making Fride open his mouth and popping the essence into it.

Fride swallowed noisily. He could feel a strange tingling all the way down his throat until he disappeared into his tummy. He looked at them, expecting something to happen and when it didn't he began to whine.

"I thought I was supposed to go all magic-y? I'm exactly the same!" he complained, while they put the rest of the magic back away, "I thought I would turn like you guys."

The gods laughed heartily at this, making the resentment in Fride's gut settle a little bit more permanently, "you'll never be like us," they chimed merrily, "you'll never have our level of power."

"True, raw power," continued Freya with a smile, "comes from the deaths of others, if you can get people to sacrifice living things to you, your power and strength will grow, and if you can get humans to sacrifice themselves to you, then you become a god."

"I don't want to be a god," Fride bit back, feeling uncomfortable with such a dark subject, "I just wanted to be more like you is all." He didn't want to admit how small, scrawny and ugly he felt compared to them, but judging by their smug expressions, he figured that they already knew exactly how he was feeling.

"Ok, we'll start with the easiest thing, Fading." Freyr pointed outside of the window, "try to visualise yourself standing outside. You might need to close your eyes, this sort of thing takes a lot of concentration."

Fride obeyed, he was suspicious of closing his eyes around the two child-gods, but decided it was best to do as he was told; after all if he could learn how to wield magic, maybe he could get home on his own?

Shutting them, he began to think of outside, of what it would be like suddenly appearing there and being able to look back at the giant tree-home.

He opened his eyes. "I'm still inside!" he barked, "I can't do this, it's irritating!"

"Stop whining," sighed Freyr, sounding annoyed, "concentrate harder. I know you're not used to having to use your brain and definitely never used to using your imagination but you will now."

Fride crossed his arms, "well excuse me," he bit back resentfully, "we didn't have much time for day-dreaming and practicing our imaginations back home; we're usually too busy slaving away for you guys, who don't even need to eat, and trying not to die."

Freyr took in a deep breath and appeared to be counting to ten, "look," he said at last, "I understand that you're angry, but...if you don't learn this you are of no use to us. If you are of no use to us," Freyr voice became colder, "then we will send you back to mommy and you can become one of her Shades and don't bother even thinking she will ever, ever let you go back home..."

"Freyr," cut in Freya sounding a little anxious.

"Fine," Fride interrupted her, his voice even more hoarse than usual due to the threat of tears and the growing sense of fear, "fine, I'll do it."

Sweating a little from the pressure, he closed his eyes again. He imagined how the blades of grass would feel on his bare feet, tickling them slightly. He imagined the light breeze around his skin. He imagined the warmth of the sun heating up the side of his body it beat down upon. He tried to imagine the smell; it would be the smell of late spring, clear and fresh. He took in a deep breath through his nose and sighed, he could actually smell it! Opening one eye nervously before looking around, he saw that he was now standing on a hill. The tree was quite far away. Fride gaped, his wish to be away from the gods must have mixed in with his command to go outside, that's why he ended up so far from the tree.

Maybe, with practice, he could get back to middle realm, back to his home, with a little bit of thought? He would wait for the night to come, then he would imagine home. He felt better with this plan, and allowed himself a grin.

"Oh, you look almost attractive when you smile," purred out Freya's voice, making him leap back, the grin now gone. The god-children stood behind him, smiling benevolently.

"That's Fading," said Freyr, "You begin to glow and fade away into a new place. Ok, let's try Fading to a certain person. Freya," he looked at his sister who evidently knew what he wanted. She stood very still and, Fride watched in amazement as she began to glow a white colour, little gold sparkles floating around her body. Then she slowly faded away and was gone.

"That's what you did earlier," Freyr smiled at Fride's amazed facial expression, "only you glow a sort of emerald colour. What I want you to do now is imagine Freya, imagine standing by her side."

Fride nodded and closed his eyes and, like Freya, stood as still as possible, focussing on Freya. He imagined her long golden hair, he imagined her scent of flowers, the softness of her dress...

His eyes jerked open suddenly as he realised he was now sitting on top of the goddess.

"Ah, sorry!" he stammered out, feeling his face flushing. Freya just laughed.

"Well done," she giggled, "I think you imagined me too well!"

"What next?" he asked, feeling happy and breathless.

The twins (for Freyr had reappeared, fading in with the same light and sparkles as Freya had) looked at each other and communicated silently for a moment.

"We don't want to teach you too much," said Freya slowly, still looking at her brother, "so we will leave it there for now."

"Besides," Freyr smiled, turning back to Fride, "you don't need to know much more than that, not for the jobs we want you to do."

"Right, you want us to steal more children away."

"That is correct, but let's get you clean and in some actual clothes first."

The twins had put Fride into a bath of large soapy water and left him alone for a few minutes. Fride was pretty relieved. His bones ached, though he wasn't sure if that was from being dragged through the bogs or from practicing Fading. He sighed and sunk into the bubbles. He had never known warm water before, never mind water with bubbles in it. 'Best not get too used to it,' he decided, 'I'm going to return home tonight. I can't wait to see Aenor again.' Thinking of his younger sister made his stomach churn slightly. He missed her already and it had only been a few hours. Mother would be half mad by the time he got back; she would no doubt be terrified of the wrath of Nerthus, but he didn't care. He would run away with Aenor if he had to, maybe go and live with witches in order to improve the magic he now possessed. Then he could protect Aenor and they would live their lives merrily, free of sacrifice and hardship and of being pawns to the whims of the gods.

He rubbed his hands through his hair, scrubbing the thick mud out of it roughly; Fride had never been gentle with his own body as he came from a place where looks weren't particularly important and due to centuries of rough weather and starvation, no one looked very attractive, with the exception of Aenor who was very beautiful, everyone in the village said so. Most children were like Fride, rough and thin and pale with a slightly wild look about them. Aenor was different, where he was pale she looked willowy, where he was thin she was delicate, where he was rough and wild, she was tame and gentle. She was a little like his mother in that sense - though Fride didn't like to think of his mother in a positive manner most of the time due to their strained relationship- he had to admit that she was, like Aenor, very demure. It worried him, in all honesty. Fride always felt as if his mother wasn't really cut out for their world because despite the fact that she had been born into it, she was too soft. It had been his father's protection that had kept her alive and well for so long, doubtless had she not been with a man as good as father, she would have died from weakness or misery long ago. There was evidence in this from her behaviour since father had died in the war. She had become increasingly reliant on the goddess, becoming insanely superstitious and so aggravated by Fride and his antics that they didn't even have a nice relationship anymore. The last few years Fride felt as if she had done nothing but chastise and demean him.

'She could have saved me tonight,' he thought, 'she could have taken me and Aenor and run away, but she didn't, she just cried and prayed until they took me away and tried to murder me.'

He wiped away his angry tears with frustration; he hated it when he did baby things like crying. Imagine if Freyr or Freya caught him crying! The humiliation would be too much. Freyr had almost made him cry earlier but the thought of returning to Aenor had been enough to keep Fride going, despite the threats of being turned over to the mercy of Nerthus.

'What will happen to Aenor if I'm not there while she's growing up?' he thought, going back to musing over his home-life without him, 'even if she survives mother's madness and makes it into adulthood, she might not be as lucky as mother to marry a nice man. She's pretty, so lots of men will want her.' (Thisthought alone horrified him). 'She could end up marrying young, maybe as young as eleven or twelve, to some nasty man who will treat her more like a prize than a person. No, I cannot wait as long as Nerthus wants, I need to get home, and I will do it tonight!'

Getting out of the bath he rubbed himself down with a soft, fluffy cloth before looking at the clothes that had been laid out for him; a yellow sleeveless shirt, some green breeches, long yellow socks and a green tunic. He put it all on, feeling slightly foolish in the fancy gear. 'This isn't me,' he thought, 'I'm more simple than this. Oh gods, I want to go home."

He walked down the winding staircase to the last floor, where, in the living room, Freyr and Freya handed him a pair of red boots. He wrinkled his nose at them, but the twins insisted, doing up the buckles and laces for him as they were too complicated for him.

"We're ready," grinned Freyr, "let's hold hands."

Fred stood in the middle, holding a hand of each of the taller twins. He kept his eyes open as they - knowing where they wanted to go - began to concentrate. Around him misty white and green tendrils began to fly encircling them. Eventually the scenery began to fall away, fading momentarily into nothing, before re-building itself. They sky became dark, even the stars blocked out by the heavy clouds. Buildings began to appear either side of them, showing that they were now in a street in a town.

Fride had never seen anything like it.

"Welcome to Eboracum," smiled Freyr.

"Ebor- what? What is this place?"

"It's a very new town," answered Freya. "But it's gaining popularity."

They began to walk through, Fride amazed at the size of the buildings. "Do giants live here?"

The twins laughed, "no," they answered, "but the Romans have begun some building here, and they were always much better at it than you guys."

Fride frowned a little. The Romans were not people he knew much about, but he didn't like them. He knew that they were supposed to think themselves very superior to his people and that a lot of his people had been attacked and killed by the Romans.

"They're new here," said Freya, as if she had heard Fride's thoughts, "and they do not worship us. They have tainted our people here, the ones who did believe in us, and instead they are encouraging everyone to worship some new eastern gods." She pointed to a tall building which had a symbol upon it. It looked like a cross with a circle on it.

"We're going to make them remember us," smiled Freyr, "before adding our favour to our devoted worshippers and helping destroy the Romans once and for all."

Fride thought it was cruel to force people to change their gods, even if the said people were Romans, but he tried to keep his thoughts quiet, he didn't want to anger Freyr or Freya and who knows what they had already possibly heard from out of his mind?

The twins began to glow slightly, sniggering as they did.

"You do the same," whispered Freya to Fride, "we want them to see us."

"Can they not now?"

"No, we're invisible to the human eye. But let off this slight glow, and it'll allow children to spot you."

Fride began to stare at his hands, willing them to glow. It took a few minutes, but eventually, he began to lighten. It wasn't as bright as Freyr and Freya but it was still pretty amazing.

"Do I have to concentrate this hard constantly?" he asked.

"Yes or it'll turn off," answered Freya, "just get used to it. It's only using your brain."

They snuck through the streets quietly until they reached the largest grandest home in all of Eboracum. "This is called a villa," whispered Freyr to Fride, "all the richest Romans live in these. A young ruler, fat and spoiled, lives here. He's own men hate him."

"We're going to encourage them to murder him," sniggered Freya.

"But first we're going to sneak away his child. We wouldn't want it here when the soldiers turn on their leader."

They crept up to a window and the god-twins began to softly sing:

Come with us

Come with me

Come dance under the old oak tree

Forget all those you used to know

Memories fade like the melting snow

Come with us

Come with me

Come dance under the old oak tree

It was the most beautiful singing Fride had ever heard, and for a moment he actually forgot to breathe he was so taken in by it. It was only when he could smell the rank, acrid stench of their more powerful magic under it that he realised their beautiful voices were no more than a disguise under magic.

"I wonder what they really sound like?" he thought, "I wonder what they really look like? I pray that with all my magic, I will still never be as fake as they are. I hope always to be true to who I am."

Soon enough a young boy peered out of the window. He had jet black hair and eyes that were so dark they too looked black. His skin was olive and looked oiled and rich. The child himself was well-fed and healthy, healthier than any human child Fride had ever seen before.

"No wonder the Romans are so mighty," Fride thought, "they must live very well. That boy, I bet he gets to eat meat every day."

"Come with us," whispered Freyr and Freya together, "come on, we have somewhere fun for you to go, come with us."

The boy bit his lip. His eyes were bright with curiosity, but Fride could tell that he wasn't won over just yet. "What is it that this child wants?" he thought, "it isn't toys or games, it isn't food, he has all of those things. He must be loved to have those things, his family must care for him, so it probably isn't love either." As he thought, he could feel the magic inside him churning and whirling in his stomach. "The magic wants to reach out to him," he decided, before closing his eyes and focusing very, very hard.

The magic spread out from him, like a bird beating its powerful wings, and threw itself into the boy, searching through his emotions and thoughts and personality. All of these things were translated back into Fride. He couldn't understand in words what the boy was feeling or what he needed but Fride somehow, through the power of the magic, knew.

Opening his eyes again Fride began to whisper with the twins but instead of offering games he said, "come with us Titus, come with us because we will be your friends forever! You'll always be with us!"

The boy, Titus, suddenly grinned and all his previous fears and misgivings vanished. He nodded and disappeared from the window, no doubt running down the stairs to meet them outside.

While they waited, freyr and Freya turned to Fride, "how did you do that?" asked Freya.

"How did you know what that boy wanted?" continued her twin, "and how did you know his name?"

"I don't know," shrugged Fride with a hint of his usual surliness, "I just knew. The magic told me, or something, I'm not sure."

He suddenly was distracted by Titus who came bounding out of the villa to give Fride a warm hug.

"Will we always be friends?" asked Titus, "do you swear it?"

"I do," answered Fride honestly, not noticing the concerned and threatened looks Freya and Freyr were giving one another.

xxXXxx

They took Titus back to Alfheimer, where he immediately began to run around screaming and shouting excitedly.

"He needs more friends," grinned Freyr, "I and Fride will get some more. Come Fride."

"What now?"

"Yes," Freyr rolled his eyes but grinned, "he's a lonely little boy and we can't keep him entertained the whole time. Freya will attend to him for now and you could do with honing your magic. Come."

When Fride and Freyr faded again, they then ended up in a place covered in snow and ice.

"This is where the north-men live," informed Freyr. "Don't worry, use your magic to keep you warm."

"Won't magic run out?" grumbled Fride, still hoping to get away from the gods as soon as he could, "Freya said it was like energy, so does that mean it can be exhausted eventually?"

"I believe your vocabulary is improving in the short time you've been with us," smiled Freyr, "when you first came to the elf-lands you looked a mess, attacking pixies and wearing your loin cloth. You're practically a gentleman now."

"You're speaking as if I arrived many years ago," scoffed the boy, "you can't have changed me in so many hours. I am just smarter than you give me credit for. And you aren't answering my question, I noticed that too. So there."

"Magic can run out," answered Freyr, still smiling good naturedly, "but it would take a long, long, long time before that could happen to you. You'll probably die before it runs out."

"And what will you do then?"

"Drain the magic back out of your corpse of course," Freyr looked at Fride, "we wouldn't want to waste good magic by leaving it in you. Aha, we're here now!"

They were at a medium sized town, with a large beautiful building near its edge.

"Does an important man live there?" asked Fride.

"You could say so," answered the boy-god dryly, "their god lives there. They worship a new one. It's of no importance. But we are taking their children as punishment."

"How many?"

"All of them. I want you to use that magic you did before, the one that spread itself out and reached Titus before. I want you to do it again, but this time calling as many children as possible."

Fride nodded unsurely. He didn't think he could do what Freyr wanted, and was worried that he would use up his magic, despite Freyr assurances, but he did not want to go against the god, so instead he took in a deep breath and first concentrated on letting himself glow. This, he felt, woke up all the children who had been sleeping. Then he called his magic to seek them all out once again. He felt it rise like a bord, flapping its huge sparkling green veil-like wings and flying out to all the children.

He could see little Anya, who was awake and frightened but looking for adventure.

He saw Leif who just wanted his father to care for him.

He could sense the misery of Borghild who wanted her big sister to stop bullying her.

He could taste the happiness Knut felt for he had a new baby brother born to him that day.

He could feel the beating heart of a new-born called Erik.

He could also feel the marks on Ingrid's back after her mother had whipped her mercilessly for not doing her chores correctly.

On and on he felt what they felt, tasted what they tasted, smelt what they smelt, heard what they heard and saw their families, their memories, their perceived futures and their hopes and aspirations.

Feeling overwhelmed, he opened his eyes and looked about him. All around he and Freyr were children of various ages. Many of them were siblings and holding the hands of their brothers or sisters. They were dressed differently from any children Fride had known; their clothes seemed more refine and expensive, yet with the exception of the house built for god, the town did not seem to be a particularly wealthy one.

"Hello children," crooned Freyr, "don't you want to come with us? It will be fun, we'll play all day and you'll never get old."

"What about our parents?" asked a girl called Igrid, "won't they miss us?"

"We'll swap you with some fakes," grinned Freyr, "just until you come back home. They will never know you spent time with us."

"He's lying," Fride realised, "they aren't going back home at any point. They'll keep the children with us. I heard their song from earlier, the children will forget! They'll forget who they are. Will I as well? I can't let that happen, I have to go along with this madness until they all go to bed and I can sneak away. I have no choice but to trick these children into coming with me!"

He felt his magic still reaching out to them, and he knew that it was him that they were interested in, it was him who pulled them towards he and the god-child. They would listen to Fride and Fride only.

"Come on!" Roared Fride suddenly, "I'll race you to the great tree that stands in the middle of our land!"

The children squealed and cried out in joy at Fride's challenge, and Fride began to fade, feeling his magic touching them all and pulling them into Alfheimer with him.

"Gods forgive me for what I am doing," he thought, before realising it was the gods who were making him do these things.

xxXXxx

After Norway, Fride and Freya travelled to India and took a child from there because Freya liked the look of his hair.

Then he went to Austria with both twins, leaving their growing hoard at home, to collect four siblings who were being treated appallingly by their mother.

They went to England and took a child who was being forced to work in mines.

And on and on and on it went. Fride began to enjoy his job more and more. He became increasingly involved with the children. He would learn all about them before taking them away from their homes and placing them in Alfheimer. There he would play with them and have all sorts of fun before being called out again.

But then, slowly, the twins began to leave to collect children from the middle realm without him more often. It didn't really hurt Fride's feelings though, in fact, he hardly noticed, for he was so involved with playing games with his new friends.

xxXXxx

Fridurick arrived in the house, behind Freyr. They had all been racing to the tree house again. It wasn't surprising that the god had won for he was much large than Fride or any of the others. Freyr and Freya always won every game. It was just a fact of life. He cried out when the other children crashed in behind him, all screaming and laughing. They all wore green, just like Fridurick, and all of them were children of differing ages.

"Fride," Freya whispered his nickname into his ear, "come with me for a moment."

He went upstairs, living Freyr with the others playing bull-dog, following Freya. The stairs were narrow and twisting, which made sense as they were in a giant tree. They arrived on a landing which led to a door, which she pushed open and beckoned Fridurick into.

Inside was a bedroom, with a large bed, a window behind it and a chest of drawers. Toys were littered all over the floor, but toys could always be found everywhere. She sat on the bed and took into her hands a small bundle.

"What is that?" he asked from the doorway.

Freya smirked, "come inside, shut the door and sit on the bed with me."

He did as she asked, finding it a little strange. Nearly everything he did with Freya he did with Freyr also, He was unaccustomed to doing things with only one of them.

However, he did as he was told and that was something he was accustomed to. He didn't like obeying, it went against his very nature, but he was too afraid to ever say no to the twins.

Sitting on the bed, she passed the bundle over to him. He opened it and realised it was new clothing. He looked at his old clothes, the ones the twins had given him earlier that day after his bath, only he realised with a jolt that they were quite small and very tattered.

"We want you to wear the same green uniform as the others Fride," she said, "it's fitting as you work for the gods of spring. Plus," she looked him up and down, "you are getting big now, you need better clothes."

Suddenly Fridurick felt a little weird and uncomfortable. It's true he had been changing but...had he changed that much?

"How long have I been here?" he asked suddenly, feeling his face pale and then burn with the shock and realisation of what had been going on, "it's never been night...it's never been night here! It's still the same day, isn't it? But, I've done so much! That cannot all be done in a day...I can't remember the last time we slept or when it was winter or anything."

"There is no winter here," answered Freya, her eyes darkening slightly, "there is no night, only games and gaiety. This is the realm of my brother and I and we dislike those things."

"I noticed that more children were coming, ones I had no part in collecting but...it all seems like one long day...how long has it been? How old am I? Freya?"

"Calm down Fride," she sighed, "it's been some years," she shrugged, "time is a human construction, we don't care about it because we're immortal."

"I've missed my time," thought Fride, "wasn't I supposed to leave during the night? But there is no night now! Damn it all, how could I be so stupid? I forgot, I forgot my plan because I was so caught up in the madness! But, but then again, if it's been years then this means I'm a bit closer to going home, soon I'll be a man and Nerthus will allow me to return to the middle realm, the realm where my family live. I'll be able to see my sister again!'

"Stop thinking about other women," complained Freya, snaking her arm around Frid's shoulders. "Did you know, I have something to celebrate, other than you growing up?"

"What's that?" grinned Fridurick, feeling in good humour.

"I am now the goddess of fertility!"

Fride gaped, "I thought your mother was in charge of that."

"Well more and more humans are worshipping me now," she smirked, "I'm known as Frigga, Freya and Fridja. I don't mind them changing my name slightly, it's only natural." She gave Fride a devious side glance, "mother's furious and insanely jealous. But it's not my fault, Freyr and I have been doing so well making sure that spring is wealthy and good to our followers and damning all those who disobey us and worship others gods by taking their children, that it's only natural that they'll now pray to us for fertility and happy marriage beds." She stretched before laying herself out on the bed, "what do you think?"

"Ummm...urrrrr..." said Fride intelligently, making her grin at him.

"Shall we celebrate?" she asked, sitting back up in order to pull Fridurick down with her, "just us together? After all, you're becoming a man now, and I'm an expert in making sure they have a great time entering manhood."

xxXXxx

"Why won't you let me come with you anymore?"

Freyr laughed, making Fride scowl harder. The twins were leaving again to collect more children and he was, again, being left behind. It was bad enough that he had missed his chance to escape, but now he was trying to keep a grip on time, and he could only do that if he kept visiting the middle realm; on Alfheimer time was just impossible to keep a track of. But he could watch his own body. He knew he was getting taller; he knew the other kids were getting taller. Titus looked around ten years old, when they had first collected him he had looked about seven. Besides that, Fride's feelings were changing. He felt strange sometimes around Freya, especially since that day, and many of the other older-looking girls they now had. He also was getting tired of playing.

"You don't need to come with us," Freyr said when the laughter finally stopped, "stay here and looking after the little elves." He grinned as five little green clad children raced past him screaming.

"The fields are becoming full of children," spat Fridurick, gesturing to outside, "why do you need to take more children from the humans? It's unkind, taking them away from their families."

"How is it unkind?" retorted Freyr, looking up the stairwell and seeing his sister; a grin broke out on his face, "we're giving them a better life, plus we replace some of them with our shades,' he added absentmindedly. Fride saw who he was staring at and pulled Freyr forward so he could no longer see Freya and would have to focus on him.

"I won't run away if that's what you are worried about. Even though I'm a man now and it's only fair..."

Freyr interrupted with a snort and short derisive laughter, "you are not a man Fride, trust me. My sister is just very, very lascivious which only natural in our profession." He sighed dreamily making Fride roll his eyes.

"I know I'm much older now, even if you won't tell me my exact age. I'm sure I am older than fourteen, and that's when people in my village were getting married and being drafted in to wars. Let me come with you to collect this child. I won't run I swear it. I always went with you before, you used to let me I remember. I don't forget like all these idiots," he pointed at the children playing outside. None of them really remembered their parents, or he assumed they didn't as they never mentioned their past lives.

Freyr considered him quietly for a moment. Fride blinked and tried not to be hypnotised by how beautiful Freyr was; before when they had had this argument, Freyr ended up staring at Fride, who had in turn been so enchanted by his blue eyes that he had suddenly blinked and everyone was gone. Mina, one of the little girls who had newly arrived as an elf had informed him that he had been standing there with a stupid gaping mouth and wide eyes for hours even after Freyr was gone.

Freyr squinted his eyes, seeing that Fride wasn't falling for the same trick. "Just stay here and play Fride that's an order."

He turned to walk away, now joined by Freya, when Fride decided to do something he had never had the nerve to do before. He challenged them.

"No!" he cried, making them both stop in their tracks, "I'm...I'm bored! I'm tired of playing games. I'm too old for this now." He felt himself growing red, feeling angry and frightened, "please let me go with you, just for a while, let me do something other than playing with small children. I'll be good. Please."

He looked up and suddenly felt himself turning pale.

The sky outside darkened, making the child-elves whimper and cry. Never had the sky been overcast in Alfheimer before. Freyr and Freya began to change, their hair darkened and their skin began to turn white. They slowly began to turn to face Fridurick, who felt close to wetting himself with fear.

"You will do as we say," they spoke at the same time, their voices somehow echoing and slowly raising their heads to show their pitiless black eyes and sharp teeth. "You will stay here Fridurick, or we shall throw you to the mercy of our mother whose effigy you burned!"

Fride gulped, "I'm sorry," he said quietly, hating the words and hating his cowardice and hating the whole situation, "I just miss Earth, that's all."

The sun re-appeared outside and the twins were back to their usual appearance. Freyr stepped forward and brushed Fride's messy red hair. "Don't worry," he said, "we will make sure that you stop feeling this way." Leaning forward he placed a gentle kiss on Fride's lips. Fridurick stared blankly for a while, before breaking out in a grin and declaring; "well, better go outside and play! Come on Mina, let's play hide and seek!" A cheer was raised outside as the younger ones ran about Fridurick's feet, allowing the gods to sneak away unhindered.

"That spell won't last forever," whispered Freya to her brother.

"It will last long enough," he replied confidently. "His desire to see his family again will rise, but he is now trapped in the mind of a child permanently, which is fine by me. We should do it to all our little stolen babes."

"Then we shall," they smiled at one another and shared a kiss before entering Earth Realm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone reading might notice that I make Fred quite whiny in this. My reasons are:
> 
> 1- It's in character
> 
> A lot of fics portray Fred as very sensitive, or very fun and sweet, or as really sexy.
> 
> Personally I never got that impression from the film. He isn't mature and sexy, he's a doofus who happens to be good looking. He is quite fun, but in a child-like manner, he isn't particularly 'fun' on an adult way. He can be sweet and sensitive, but often chooses not to be. Fred is a child. It's like he's stuck being temperamental, young boy. So, as I'm writing him as a child I imagine he would be quite precocious, confident and, to be honest, kind of moody. Seriously, watch the film, he's in a bad mood a lot of the time. While Lizzy seems to always be mad at him, he's nearly always at his wits end with her as well.
> 
> 2- He has good reason to be unhappy.
> 
> I don't think I really need to explain, but in the film there seemed to be an underlying unhappiness, even anger, in Fred. Of course, that might be me reading waaaay too much into the film, but I decided that I could use that theory that he is essentially chained in this existence of perpetual childhood and that he might not be that happy about it. Plus, in this his situation currently is basically a curse. The fic will go on to explain how he becomes an actual imaginary friend.
> 
> Finally, I hope anyone reading this isn't freaked by him getting with Freya. It's not a real relationship or anything (don't worry) but she is a fertility goddess and he's a raging pervert in the film (come on, Fred is NO innocent!) so I just put in what I thought would be likely. Plus, as I'm sure anyone reading this has guessed, by the time she is putting her moves on him, he is not a little boy anymore.
> 
> Again, please review and show support.


	11. Polly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings- disturbing chapter. Sexual situation (kinda), racism, sexism, homophobia. Lots of horror in this. So, yeah, proceed with caution. Apologies in advance for my terrible attempts of writing rhyme (a rapper and a poet I am not).

Polly sat in her arm chair, slouched in her stained silky nightgown and wearing ugly, but comfortable, fluffy slippers. She slurped her iced tea unattractively as she watched the news report with cynical eyes. Polly was not a sympathetic woman and though recent months had not been kind to her ( what with her daughter abandoning her emotionally and physically resulting in Polly somewhat falling apart due her self esteem of being able to control someone weaker than her now completely diminished) she was still as hard-faced and self-centred as she had ever been.

'I should call Elizabeth I suppose,' she thought bitterly, 'but I don't think I will. She has that giggling idiot of a boyfriend to watch over her now, all while I sit alone in this house. It's all her fault...'

Her thoughts trailed off into violent and emotional thoughts that were less cohesive sentences and more like a bizarre picture show arranged by an avant-garde film director at his most pretentious; Polly was a very angry woman.

"Well that's what happens when you live so close to the city," she thought bitterly once her thoughts had somewhat composed themselves, "any fool would know that cities are full of poles and chinks just waiting to steal your job or rip you off, women wearing men's clothing and acting like men, and drive-by shooting by blacks and spiks, men marrying other men and lesbians adopting children and animals, good god what was she thinking?"

She switched off the television. The room fell silent.

It was sort of nice, the quiet, she had never had any real quiet when Nigel and Lizzy had been around, constantly making noise and braking things and shouting. Polly should have never been a mother. She hated noise and mess and little people and cute things. What she did like was quietness and stability and power, especially the power of always being right, so instead of calling Lizzy and asking if she was ok because a giant octopus monster was near where she lived, Polly decided to sit back and imagine all manner of horrible things happening to Lizzy, her grinning buffoon boyfriend (Polly didn't know his name and didn't care to learn it) and Nigel.

She had her eyes closed and did not notice the lights in the hallway going out one by one. Then creeping swirling shadows began to climb into her living room, crawling across her ceiling before looping down like spiders webs to the floor. The lamps in the living room fluttered and then shut down completely. Darkness reigned.

With a strange sticky sort of sound, figures of black-clad, pale skinned children began to walk out of the walls, their arms raised in front of them like zombies in an old horror film. One, two, three, four, five, six, six shades in all came out of the wall. Their blank eyes observed one another for a moment before they all turned in unison to look at Polly, who was still sitting on her chair with her eyes closed and a malicious grin on her face.

"One, two, three, four, five, six," the children began to whisper together at a rapid pace, "one, two, three, four, five, six!"

Polly frowned and opened her eyes. The room was very dark; all of the lights must have turned off. Also, it was cold, really, really cold. Polly let out a shiver and sigh, before gasping to see her breath coming out in a puff of ice-white smoke.

"What on earth!" she cried, before hearing the whispers of children behind her. She turned around and let out a mighty scream. Six children were staring blankly at her. They all looked dead, with blue-tinged lips, sightless eyes and limp bodies. It was like someone took six corpses and turned them into puppets that could only barely stand and move their lips.

Polly couldn't even speak she was so frightened; instead she stumbled back until she hit the television.

"One, two, three, four, five, six!" they chimed, "One, two, three, four, five, six! One, two, three, four, five, six!"

Then all at once the children's' mouths dropped open in six silent screams. Their eyes rolled in their sockets before finishing back on her.

"Stop!" screamed Polly unable to hold herself back, fear taking her and shaking her wildly, "stop it! Please!"

"One, Gunthar!" cried one child followed immediately by;

"Two, Sinita!" then,

"Three, Bethan!"

"Four, Ahmed!"

"Five, Jonathan!"

"Six," the last child, the furthest away from Polly, with long auburn straggly hair and a deep voice said, "Sarah."

The girl looked up with the same brown eyes Polly and Lizzy shared. Polly let out another scream, this one of sheer horror and terror so loud and so high that it felt like it tore itself from out of her throat. Her knees turned to water and she fell to the floor, shaking profusely and weeping heavily. As she did the children began to amble slowly towards her, singing as they did;

"One, two, three, four, five, six,

Stayed under earth to worship,

The great goddess of the dark,

The great goddess with no heart,

She'll rip your child from the womb,

Drag your siblings to their doom,

All beware the goddess in black,

She will give you a heart attack

Heart attack, heart attack, heart attack!"

Polly felt a shooting pain plundering through her heart before her entire left side seemed to go numb and cold. She fell onto the floor, gasping for breath and finding none, her ears full of the children crying 'heart attack, heart attack!'

Just as her vision began to fade, she suddenly had a gasp of air and opened her eyes. She was lying in bed, flat on her back. She stared up at the ceiling, her body shivering and covered in sweat. She willed her heart beat to slow down, but before it did, she realised there was an uncomfortable weight on her chest. "I need to get up!" she suddenly thought, "I need to get up and run!" her eyes so wide that the whites showed all around her irises, she tried to sit up, craning her head and making her neck ache, but there was something heavy on her chest. It was like her whole body was paralysed and she couldn't get up and all of that was adding to her panic.

Then, Polly felt long claws grazing across the bare skin on her arms. She let out a scream, good god something was holding her down! There was a chuckle, and something rumbled on top of her. "Get off!" she thought, "please, get off me!" but she couldn't yet speak. The thing then began to drag its claws sensuously across her bare legs, getting higher and higher, past her knees, onto her mid thighs, between them.

She screamed again, feeling increasingly angry and less frightened. As the thing bit her thigh, she screamed again, though this time it was more of a warrior's cry. With a sudden surge of energy, whatever magical hold this thing had on her was broken, and she was able to sit up. Looking down she saw a hideous creature sitting smugly and far too comfortably between her legs. It was drawing its bulbous arms up and down her legs. It turned its bug eyes to her and said in a voice that sounded strange and guttural, "come now, I've seen your fears, let me pleasure you and take you away from here." The creature sounded like it was making animal noises but badly disguising them as human sounds and English words. She shook her head and pulled away from the being, slowly removing her legs. Its large bat like ears wiggled a little, but it made no other movement to show what it may have been feeling at that moment.

"Too old for me anyway," it sniffed after a while, "maybe your succulent daughter shall she more accommodating," it began to drool all over the bed.

"You don't touch her," whispered Polly, still completely lost and confused but understanding enough to be defensive, "you touch my daughter and I'll kill her."

"Raping her body wouldn't be as bad as you raping her innocence," the thing grinned, showing off yellow and cracked fangs. "I must return to my realm. I'll say hello to your sister while I'm there."

Suddenly all the lights snapped back on and the creature was gone. Polly looked down and realised with shame that in her fear and panic, that she had wet herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so first of all I made Polly a pretty vile person. I think it suits her character. Polly is an old fashioned bully. She bullies her own daughter in the film. So to me, it makes sense that she would look down on anyone she could see as inferior. So being a suburban, middle class, heterosexual white lady, she could look down on immigrants, homosexuals, and different races. If you think it didn't work, let me know, but as I say I think she's a bully and so it suits her. Don't worry, I will show her in good and bad lights (as I've tried to do with Annabella and as I've tried to do with our 'good guys', such as Mickey.)
> 
> Monsters- the children were the Shades, Nerthus' children that she stole away and turned into her 'pets', we saw them previously when Fride went to 'Otherworld' for the first time and tried to break a new deal with Nerthus. There is more to do with Shade six, Sarah, can you guys figure out who or what she is or what her story might be?
> 
> The monster at the end is an incubus. Incubus isn't just a cool band or Edward Cullen in the last book. No, Incubi are ugly monsters that were used to explain paralysis that people sometimes experience when they first wake up. They are traditionally very ugly and oftentimes also rapists. So that's why this incubus was a total perv. I hope you got creepy vibes from him as that was totally the intention.


	12. Nigel

"If we can just survive the night," Mickey said, "then we can run during the day. Monsters only ever come out at night, don't they?"

Lizzy didn't answer. Instead she picked up Natalie and took her back upstairs. "I'll put her in our room," she said from the stairs, "we can both go to bed now."

Lizzy know that Mickey was upset about Joanne. "I wonder if a part of him still loved her?" she thought as she lay down his daughter. "It wouldn't surprise me. I'm sure part of me still belongs to..." she thought she would say 'Charles' but instead Fred's image came to her mind. She blinked and shook her head, willing the smiling visage of Fred to disappear. Her heart didn't completely belong to Mickey, she understood and accepted that much. She also knew that really, Mickey needed to be alone that night. He needed to mourn for Joanne; the least she could do was watch over Natalie as he did that.

She looked over at the clock by the bed. 11:49. Soon it would be midnight. "The witching hour," she realised. "Oh god, what more horrors will appear then?" She knew that these things that were happening were not of this world, but that of some sort of magical one, one that was invaded on her world. Sort of like how Fred's existence shouldn't have been allowed, because he naturally caused chaos when in this realm. He didn't belong here, his magic didn't belong here, and neither did any of the monsters that she now saw attacking news anchors.

"Maybe I should call mom?" Lizzy began to dress for bed, "but then again, she probably doesn't want to hear from me. Oh who am I kidding? She never wants to hear from me. Besides, I think all of this is just happening in the city." Part of her wondered if she should turn on the news to continue watching events unfolding, but she changed her mind. She had seen enough horrors for one day; the death of someone she knew was more than enough. Emotionally exhausted, she crawled into the bed, making sure there was space for Mickey and that Natalie would be in the middle of them. "No one is coming after you now Natalie." She stared at the wardrobe Mickey had nailed shut. "I'll protect you, I swear."

As if hearing Lizzy's thoughts, Natalie suddenly opened her eyes and peered about in a dazed manner before jumping when she saw Lizzy looking down at her.

"I'm sorry!" Lizzy said quickly, "I didn't mean to scare you. Are you ok? Oh of course not...but...don't worry. Daddy is just downstairs. We're together and safe, ok?"

Natalie stuck her thumb in her mouth and nodded, but Lizzy saw her eyes welling up with tears.

"Oh Natalie, I'm so sorry for all the scariness that has happened recently." She paused, before pulling the girl on to her lap and giving her a kiss on the head. Natalie shivered slightly. "Are you frightened of me, Natalie? What did I do to make you scared of me?"

Natalie looked up at Lizzy, her eyes wide and blue, "I saw the witch," Natalie explained, "I saw the witch, and she looked like you, but with longer hair."

Lizzy thought for a moment. She remembered the dirty footprints on the ground, and the stories Natalie was told.

"You mean the witch your mom told you about?" she asked after a few beats, "the witch who stole away daddy? That story?" Natalie nodded. "Well you know that isn't true. I am not a witch Natalie, and if I was, then I would be a good witch and I would use my magic to protect you. You understand that, don't you? I would never hurt or frighten you. Whatever that thing was tonight, it wasn't me."

Natalie sighed in a resigned, almost adult-like manner, "I know," she said, "Fred likes you so I should as well. He knows bad people, and you aren't bad."

Lizzy felt her face heating up and her heart picking up pace, "does he ever speak about me? What does he say?"

Natalie shrugged.

"Well, he says I'm good, right? Does he ever tell you about when we were children together?" (Well technically Fred wasn't a child, but he acted like one most of the time.)

"He didn't ever say you were friends," said Natalie, sounding surprised, "I never knew that. He just said that you were good. Like daddy is good. But that's it."

"Oh," said Lizzy, her face turning pale again and her heart dropping, "oh, well...ok."

They sat very still, and after a few more minutes, Natalie fell fast asleep in Lizzy's arms.

Lizzy looked over to the clock again. 12:07. The witching hour had already begun.

xxXXxx

Polly had just finished shivering in her shower when the telephone rang, making her jump again. I took a few minutes for her to regain the courage to leave the bathroom and to answer it.

"H-hello?" she spoke into it, dripping wet water all over her cream carpet. She was half afraid she would hear the children on the phone, like that Jap horror film '7 Days' or '7 Weeks' or whatever the hell it was called.

Instead it was just the nerdy voice of her ex-husband that replied, "Polly, Polly? Are you alright?"

Polly sighed, "yes I'm fine Nigel," she always felt frustrated around her husband, "but something strange is happening here. Is it the same where you are?"

"It's starting to get weird. The strange paranormal happenings begun in New York, but now we're hearing more and more reports from all over the world." Polly turned the television back on and logged onto the news channel, "kids have been going missing all over the world for weeks. But we just didn't hear about a lot of it. As you know American news isn't very good about reporting anything non-american or-"

"Yes, yes Nigel, please leave your politics out of this..."

"Ahem, sorry, anyway, I was worried about you and Lizzy. Is she with you?"

"Of course not!"

"Alright no need to yell, Polly, Jesus! Look, the thing is, I kind of recognise some of these things."

"What? How? What are they?" Polly thought of the dead puppet children...she thought of Sarah.

"They're things out of myths, out of fairytales and children's stories. They...they are all things that we have heard bout before but thought were fantasy."

Polly sat down in her chair, memories of her unhappy childhood crashing to the forefront of her mind. "You can't be serious," she said faintly. On her mind's eye, she remembered being twelve years old, petulant and spiteful,. Picking on her younger sister for believing such silly things...

"I'm being deadly serious," Nigel interrupted her thoughts, though his voice seemed far away, "I know how this sounds and I know I seem crazy, but it's the truth. I'm coming over to you guys. I want you and Lizzy together with me."

"No!" she cried, "you've had nothing to do with Lizzy for years! You can't just come in now!"

"You wouldn't let me have anything to do with her! You ruined our relationship because you were jealous!"

"You could have found her afterwards! After she turned eighteen!"

"I don't want to fight," said Nigel tiredly after a long pause, "please, I'm worried. Do you remember Fred?"

"You could say that," she muttered, looking cautiously in her hallway to make sure none of the lights were off; they weren't, everything still looked ordinary. Nigel didn't know anything about Lizzy's recent break down, or of her new life, he knew nothing.

"Well, if some of these fantasy creatures are returning, then maybe so will imaginary friends, it makes sense, right?"

"Yeah," she shuddered, "yeah it does."

"Then maybe we need to be there. Fred used to cause a lot of trouble..."

"I know, I tried to stop it where all you did was laugh along! I'm sorry...look I don't want to fight either," she ground the words out bitterly, "something bad happened to me tonight and...and I do need someone here. I'll give you Lizzy's address. Get her and bring her here as soon as possible." Polly gulped as if literally swallowing her pride, "I don't want to be here alone..."

"No problem," said Nigel quietly, as if in shock, "I'll get there as soon as I can, ok? Keep calm and safe Polly, we're all coming."

She nodded, even though he wouldn't be able to see and hung up the phone. She stayed still for a few minutes until the cold became too much, reminding her too much of what happened earlier that evening, and so she huddled up in her blanket, still in nothing but a damp towel, and waited.

xxXXxx

Nigel was right. All over the world, old monsters that had haunted the pages of fairytales and had frightened small children in their beds, were now erupting out of the ground and destroying homes and lives. Children were vanishing on mass, being dragged in to their cupboards and wardrobes and under their beds; on the streets were monsters hiding in shadows, leaping out on unsuspecting victims. The emergency services were over-run; people were being rushed into hospital because they were losing blood from two bite marks in their necks; phone calls were being made to the police about the dead climbing out of their graves and biting people; animals were going crazy, dogs were trying to climb up trees and cats were turning black and attacking their owners. Mass hysteria built within a few hours and before long panic reigned on the streets of the earth, spreading from the cities and out into the countryside. Some tried to escape in their cars, but there was nowhere to run to. Most, like Lizzy and Mickey and Janey and Annabella, had turned their homes in to fortresses.

At midnight exactly, just as Natalie had suddenly woken up and Polly met Shade number six, Fred and all his kind were thrown into the world by the morally ambiguous, incestuous fertility god and goddess.

As they each landed in the city that Lizzy and Mickey lived in, each elf felt a powerful magic that had long been repressed in them break free. Excitedly, they began to zoom around the city, stealing sugar and milk ad shining things, all whilst laughing manically.

Free, free, they were finally free!

Often times, in modern stories, elves are merry and funny creatures, prone to giving out rewards and doing good deeds for kind people, but punishing the wicked. In truth, in the very, very old stories, Elves were vicious little demi-gods. They were spiteful and mean spirited and wild and out of control.

And, as Nigel correctly believed, it was these old stories, the old myths, that were true and that were unfolding.

As Fred arrived and felt all his old powers come back to him, so an old curse pushed itself forward full force. In a moment, Fred forgot completely all about Natalie and how he loved certain humans, and instead a devilish grin etched itself on to his features.

Elves are creatures of destruction, and there was much to ruin on the earth.


	13. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair Folk
> 
> They will not go gently into the night; they are the night.
> 
> Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.  
> Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.  
> Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.  
> Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.  
> Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.  
> Elves are terrific. They beget terror.  
> The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look behind words that have changed their meaning.  
> No one ever said elves are nice.  
> Elves are bad.
> 
> — Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies

The morning was pale, the sky a uniform white cloud. It was very quiet.

Mickey sat on the couch staring at the television, even though all that was playing was white noise; the channels had all come off air hours ago. "My ex-wife is probably dead." He thought, "and it was my girlfriend who called her out and put her in that danger to begin with. It's possibly the end of the world, and I'm stuck in a relationship that I don't think is real and my daughter and her imaginary friend is somehow all part of this crazy magic, only I can't work out why or how." He remembered how she had floated in the air in Marianne's shop, and how she had revealed the necklace that apparently 'Fred' had given her, and that morning when he had sworn he had seen a red-headed man hiding under her bed. Had that actually bed Fred? Lizzy had thought so, and that terrifying thought of Fred being real bought up a whole world of difficulties for him. How much of the behaviour of the two most important ladies in his life had been from Fred and not them? Mickey had thought Lizzy crazy and wild when he had known her as a child and later on that date where she had thrown food around the restaurant; but she had always insisted that that was Fred and not her, and, in the last few months, he had seen that she wasn't the free spirit he'd expected, if anything her friend Janey was. And what of his daughter, was it Fred who kept her from speaking, was it him who was making her do all this stuff which he had thought was her just 'acting out because of his and Joanne's divorce'? Was Fred malevolent or benevolent? Should he be worried about Natalie?

All night Mickey had heard his neighbours screaming and shouting, he had heard growls and bumps and banging and things crawling around outside. In response he had switched off all the lights and kept the t.v. on mute. Nothing had even knocked on his door.

Just as he thought this heavy pounding was assaulted upon his front door along with yells of 'Lizzy, are you in there?'

Mickey grabbed his baseball bat and ran to the door. It took a little while pulling away the slabs of old wood he had nailed against it, but when he finally managed to open the door he saw Lizzy's parents waiting anxiously. Both looked pale and scared, and he could see why; outside looked terrible, half the houses were destroyed and everywhere looked deserted. It looked like something out of a post-apocalypse horror film.

He ushered them in quickly and sealed the door once again.

"Lizzy's upstairs," he informed them quickly, "with my daughter Natalie in bed. Ms Cronin, there is plenty of drinks and food in the kitchen, please help yourselves to some breakfast. I can wake up the girls."

He ran upstairs leaving Polly and Nigel alone. Usually Polly would have been offended at such treatment at someone else's home, but at that moment, she was just happy to be with other people and in a safe place; that night had been the most terrifying in all her life.

Upstairs, Lizzy and Natalie were already awake, Lizzy just didn't want to see Mickey straight away; she wasn't mad at him or anything, but she knew there would be tension because of what happened to Joanne. "I never should have called her," she thought.

Natalie was brushing her Barbie dolls hair and singing quietly. Getting rid of her dolls was probably the only thing Fred hadn't convinced Natalie to do. Lizzy herself was calling Janey.

The phone rang for a long time before, "he-hello?"

"Hi," Lizzy didn't recognise the voice on the other side, "this is Lizzy. Is Janey there?"

"Oh Lizzy, it's you," whispered the voice, "it's me, Annabella, you remember me?"

"Of course," said Lizzy, whispering as well now, and not adding that of course she would remember Annabella, as she was the home-wrecker that put the final nails in the coffin of her old marriage.

"Things are bad here Lizzy, me and Janey were so scared last night. Oh, she's asleep right now. We're taking it in turns to watch out for any nasties coming this way. We kept getting attacked last night. Half of our neighbours are now missing."

"Oh my god," gasped Lizzy, "look, if there is any way Mickey and I can help you, we will. Things aren't good here but they're not as bad as it is for you guys."

"Thanks Lizzy, if you could help us get out of here that would be amazing, I'm not sure how long we can last!"

"Lizzy," Mickey knocked on the door and peeked his head around, smiling at his daughter before looking over at his girlfriend with concerned eyes.

"I-I've gotta go," said Lizzy, "see you Anna, try to stay safe."

"I will, and thanks Lizzy, you're the nicest person I've known since meeting Janey. I'm sorry about before." Annabella promptly hung up.

Lizzy looked over at Mickey questioningly.

"It's your parents," he said, "they're here."

"You mean my mom, my dad hasn't been around for years."

"No, even he is here Lizzy, your mom has shown up with a guy and I swear it's your dad."

Lizzy gulped, not knowing what to think or how to feel. "O-ok," she finally stammered out, "come on Natalie, let's go downstairs."

Polly and Nigel where in the kitchen. Polly had made everyone sandwiches for breakfast and Nigel was sitting on the table redundantly, watching her (Polly decided that she was the chef and therefore she would be the saviour to make everyone sandwiches as Nigel was useless, Lizzy was probably a nervous wreck and her boyfriend what's-his-name was clearly a moron).

Lizzy patted her hair down nervously when she saw Nigel. He stood up and smiled, not sure if he should open his arms to hug her not; would she want to hug him, would she be angry with him?

Lizzy also stood not quite knowing what to do or how to react. In the end, after a few minutes of twisting her hands nervously she smiled and said, "hey."

"Hello," said Nigel, and this was enough for the ice to crack and for everyone to sit at the table. Polly put down the sandwiches and ordered Mickey to put the kettle on.

"Days like this everyone needs a warm comforting drink," she whispered and he nodded enthusiastically before going to do her will; Mickey was still a little bit scared of Ms Cronin.

"I've travelled through the night to get here," Nigel began, "I could see how bad things were getting and I wanted to make sure you were safe. I...I recognise the creatures that are attacking us right now. I know it sounds crazy but, as you know, I work as a university lecturer in medieval history. Well, in that subject I've learnt a lot about the various, ah, magical creatures that people really did believe in during that time period. The thin g is, these creatures match the description of many of the mythological monsters of medieval times."

"What," gaped Mickey, "so you mean like...fairies and dragons and that kind of thing?"

"Yes, there have been no dragons reported yet, but we've seen banshee's" Lizzy flashed back to the night before when she saw that monstrous snake-like creature screaming on the news, "we've had bogeymen and," he glanced at Polly who returned his look, "and incubi. For some reason these things seem to be becoming real and are attacking us on masse. Also, for weeks now children have been vanishing all over the earth. In old stories, it used to be elves and fairies that would steal children and occasionally handsome young men away, taking them to a magical world and keeping them there for years at a time, if not forever."

"This is crazy," said Lizzy sat last, "I mean, I've seen some weird stuff in my life, very, very, very weird stuff, but this, this is too much! I can't get my head around it!"

"The only reason you mother and I survived last night was because we adopted some of the old superstitions that people believed kept these monsters at bay."

Polly nodded, "we had to throw a ridiculous amount of salt out of the car windows to keep most of them away. We saw people shooting at the different monsters with guns, but that didn't achieve anything, it just annoyed them. If it wasn't salt then we had to fight them off with iron bars. Apparently iron repels a lot of them." She shrugged and sipped the tea Mickey had made her, as if she had commented on something as mundane as the weather.

"To be honest, I'm amazed that you three weren't attacked at all last night," Nigel commented, "especially as you have a child. She's probably one of the only ones left in the city."

Both Mickey and Lizzy immediately thought of the green necklace Natalie had under her jumper, but neither of them mentioned it. Instead Mickey said, "so what are we meant to do? We can't just sit here throwing salt at them when they do decide to attack."

"We need to find out why this is happening and attempt to stop it. I have a colleague in the city's university, who is an expert in ancient mythology, particularly western folklore, which is what I think we're dealing with, at the moment. I need to find and work with him to discover the truth. For now I just wanted to get you folks together. I think you should run to the countryside, somewhere far away from this chaos."

"The countryside isn't safe," said Polly, "and I think it would be more isolated. I think we should go with Nigel to find this professor."

"I agree with Ms Cronin," said Mickey, "there's nothing to gain from breaking us up again, and like she said, we're safer together than apart."

"And your daughter, would you take her into the city centre, to the hub of the chaos?"

Mickey looked from Nigel to Natalie. "I think she'll be safe...I just have a feeling that she's lucky and...and protected." Father and daughter smiled softly at each other as Nigel looked at Lizzy.

"What about you Lizzy, do you want to stay with me?"

"My friends are in the city," she looked up at them, "I would like to help them. Janey has been very good to me. They won't be a problem and I think one of them, Anna, has faced off against some of these creatures, so she might be able to give some extra details about them."

There was a pause, and Lizzy hoped she hadn't annoyed anyone by suggesting they help her friends.

"Ok," smiled Nigel, "I suppose we're all going together. We'll need to pack salt, as much iron as possible, and get into clothes that are not too bright, and that are easy to run in."

xxXXxx

Natalie was alone in her room. She didn't like feeling scared of it, and Fred had taught her that it was better to face her fears than to succumb to them. She insisted on wearing her dark green jumper, her jean dungarees and her red converse. It made her feel closer to Fred, who still hadn't returned to her. Feeling stupid, Natalie got on her knees and began to pray, "please Fred, please come back to me, I'll do anything you want. I'll even get rid of my dolls, if I have to, just come back to me."

Getting back up, she grabbed her small back pack and put a bag of salt and a bag of sugar in there. She had heard the man (Lizzy's father, she had been told) telling everyone that they needed to throw salt at the monsters, and so she decided to bring that and to bring some sugar, if the monsters didn't like salt, then maybe they did like sugar, and, as she had learned from Fred, there were surely some good monsters out there who deserved some sugar. Maybe there were even some animal monsters which she could tame, how cool would that be?

She looked at her closet and after a moment, bravely stuck her tongue out at it. "Take that shadow witch!" She thought triumphantly, before running out the room and down stairs to the adults, "I'm not afraid of you!"

Lizzy was outside staring at the ruin that was once her nice little neighbourhood. All the houses had been ruined, either smashed in windows or burned and some even looked trampled down, as if a giant had stomped over them. He had heard a lot of noise during the night, but she never knew the wreckage would be this bad.

They were the only people about. "Do you think everyone is dead?" she whispered to Mickey, who had come out to stand beside her.

"I don't know," he answered, "but I doubt it. I mean, if they were all dead, there'd be bodies everywhere, but there isn't. It's just empty."

"Quickly," said Nigel coming out of the house with Polly and Natalie in tow. "Get in to the car. I don't want us spending too much time out in the open. We need to be somewhere safe by dark."

They drove carefully, Nigel and Mickey in the front, Nigel driving and Mickey navigating, and Polly and Lizzy in the back with Natalie in the middle of them. Originally Polly was in the front with Nigel, but they had argued so much that in the end she was forced into the back seat. She huffed and stared out of the window at the desolation. She could see figures in houses, hiding away from the car.

"There are people out there," she said, "but everyone's hiding. Can't say I blame them."

"They don't know what to do," said Mickey, "all communication is down so no one is telling them what is in their best interests, and outside is full of monsters and destruction. I would still be hunkered down to, with Betsy and Natalie, if it weren't for you guys."

As they got further into the city, things got stranger. It was as if the wildlife had gone crazy. Tarmac roads and concrete were being broken apart where tree roots were bursting out of them. There were bushes growing in the middle of the street and flowers and grass growing up the tall buildings, turning them slowly into steep hillsides.

"Janey's apartment is here," Lizzy pointed to a particularly burnt and damaged building. The car stopped and the men unbuckled their seat belt regretfully. "It's alright, I can go alone, it'll be fine."

"No Lizzy," insisted Mickey, "I'd rather go with you."

"You need to stay with Natalie."

Mickey looked to the back seat and saw his daughter staring up at him; Lizzy was right, Natalie had to come first.

Lizzy walked into the building and began to run up the stairs. She felt better that no one was coming with her, because even though she was afraid, she had the feeling that they would have only slowed her down anyway.

She banged on Janey's door calling her name before it was ripped open by her best friend. The two women hugged.

"How did you get here?" asked Janey pulling Lizzy inside.

"It's a pretty long story," she laughed, "but in short I was driven down. Look, we are going to find a man who we think might be able to work out what's been going on here."

Lizzy had followed Janey into the kitchen, where Annabella was sitting in nothing but a tight t-shirt and a pair of knickers, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Hi Lizzy!" she called over, far too happily considering what had been going on the night before.

Lizzy smiled weakly before saying, "do you guys want to come with us?"

"Sure!" cried Anna, "I want to find out what happened to Sacha and the other kids. I want to clear my name! They think I did something to them."

"I'm in as well," grinned Janey ferociously, "you know me, never one to sit on the sidelines. I wanna get involved!"

"Great, then get some salt and let's go."

The women looked at each other and then Lizzy.

"Um...salt?"

xxXXxx

The car was terribly cramped and awkward with the additional two bodies, but everyone put up with it. Annabella had grinned like a shark when she saw Nigel; he looked kinda old and like he had a decent amount of money, but when she found out he was Lizzy's father, and that Lizzy's mom was with them, she thought it would be better to maybe not try anything on with him (yet).

They continued on at a slower pace than before, Nigel explaining his theory to their new team mates. Annabella was scornful, but had no ideas herself as to what they were. Janey on the other hand was deeply excited.

"Marianne says that there are many different worlds, and that they all live side by side," she babbled enthusiastically, making Mickey and Natalie smile, "she told me that these other-worlds had been intruding on ours recently and that was why the children were vanishing. Maybe that's why these creatures are here."

"Other worlds like what?" sighed Annabella, "you should know that my sister is a hokey bitch-"

"Language!" barked Polly, who was promptly ignored by Annabella.

" -who says any old nonsense. She was even like that when we were kids."

"She isn't a hokey bitch,-"

Language!"

"-Sorry Ms Cronin- she's intelligent and strong. I think she was telling the truth. I wish we knew where she was now."

"Wherever she is she's safe, trust me, I know my sister too well."

"Well whether it i different worlds or whether it isn't, it still stands that there are now many dangerous creatures in our world."

"Can you tell us about them Nigel?" asked Mickey. "So that we know what we're up against?"

"What's shadowy?" said Annabella suddenly, "it looks like tentacles made out of shadows. Those things stole the children I was with and dragged them away somewhere. What took them?"

"I'm unfamiliar with that," answered Nigel honestly. "But I know that in legends it was fairies and elves who stole children."

"I thought fairies and elves were good," said Mickey.

"Only in modern fairytales have we made them good. In the middle ages they were portrayed in a more morally ambiguous light, but the further back you go the more evil they are. In ancient times, people disliked the fairies. They were unkind tricksters, practical jokers that bought on illness and ruined crops. In fact, in parts of Britain, boys were dressed as girls until they were five years old because their parents were terrified that the evil fairies would steal them away. People would leave out sugar and milk on their doorsteps to placate them. In the bronze -age, elves were basically gods. They were oftentimes very cruel and unforgiving and demanded blood sacrifice. Even in the middle ages, people were afraid of elves and connected them and fairies to the devil."

"What do elves look like?" asked Lizzy, feeling sick with worry.

"Well, it's generally agreed on that they were good looking. They were usually quite tall, people began to draw them looking smaller and smaller as Christianity took hold and people stopped worshipping them. But in ancient times they were as big as people, if not a little larger. They are often described as being bright and fair. So we assume that most of them had fair skin and perhaps blond or red hair. But that was what many people of west northern Europe looked like, so maybe they were basing the elves features off themselves. In Victorian books they wear a lot of green because the elves and fairies were connected to nature and youth and fertility. They are often described as sprightly and highly active. But they aren't good. In old texts they are very cruel creatures. They are child-like in the worst way imaginable, they never grow up, they never mature and they never are responsible for their actions. It makes them spiteful and mean spirited. We need to avoid them at all costs."

Lizzy looked out of the window and gulped. Her father continued to talk, this time describing in text book detail the features of a banshee, but she couldn't concentrate. All she could think of was the person she knew who fit that description almost perfectly.

After twenty minutes of slow driving and listening the Nigel rant on about fairytale creatures, the car finally came to a halt and the intrepid team of odd bods climbed out of it.

They were in the centre of the city and it was ruined. Cars were flipped upside down. Bodies of humans lay scattered on the ground, many being torn apart and bloody. There were small fires here and there and the acrid stench of burning fat and oil. Not a single glass window was left un-smashed and not one building had been left alone and at peace. Everything had been torn apart and laid to waste.

"Oh my god," whispered Polly in horror.

"Where is your friend?" asked Janey, "are you sure we'll find him?"

"Yes," said Nigel, "I called him this last night. He and a few others are in the university. He said that they had managed to trap a few of the creatures. I understand if you guys want to turn back. The car still has enough petrol. Go take the child and go back."

They all looked at each other, evaluating whether or not it would be worth it.

"This place looks the worst because it's where the chaos first hit," said Anna at last, "soon all of America will look like this unless we do something about it."

"Damn straight!" grinned Janey and Mickey cheered.

Polly and Lizzy looked doubtful but stayed quiet, neither wanting to be alone. Lizzy looked down at Natalie who was sucking her thumb and looking frightened. Was this really the right thing to do? It seemed cruel to put a child in such a frightening situation, but maybe Annabella was right, the monsters still tried to come after Natalie in the suburbs, maybe there wasn't anywhere to hide.

"Well, well," crooned a leathery voice making them all jump, "what have we here?"

They began to move in closer together, looking around to see who the mysterious voice belonged to before a hideous woman came out from behind a broken down bus shelter. She was slightly too tall for a normal human, and had skin that was a greenish grey colour, and watery red eyes with yellow irises. She wore a black dress with a belt of skulls around her waist. Her back was crooked but she looked strong.

Her eyes focused on Natalie, "my, my a little elf child...I haven't seen one of these in a long time." she stepped out from behind the shlter and began to stalk towards them.

"She isn't an elf!" cried Mickey, his voice a curiously high pitch, "she's my daughter, she's a normal little girl."

"Maybe a changeling then," she said more to herself and than to Mickey, her mouth was drolling and the lifted her long nose to smell the air, "yes that is magic that I smell upon the girl, she must be an elf. But not just her," red eyes rolled towards Lizzy before Nigel screamed for them all to run.

They bolted suddenly, and before the witch could give chase a loud giggling of many creatures broke out and began to get closer.

Nigel and the others hid some distance away, knwoign they couldn't travel further without being seen and noticing that she wasn't chasing them.

"I heard them coming," he whispered, "that's why I said run."

"Heard what?" began Polly in frustration before green flashes of light appeared around the witch. When they finally stilled they turned into young men and women, all of whom were quite pretty, and all wearing green clothes and red shoes or boots.

"What do you want?" growled the witch, "I nearly could have had some supper then!"

"Who are you?" laughed an elf girl with blonde hair and knee high red boots with a green miniskirt.

"I am a follower of Yaga Baba," said the witch proudly, "one of the sisterhood."

"We don't like witches," said a boy elf who had jet black hair and tanned skin (much to Nigel's surprise), "you guys try to take our Mistress and Masters role."

"That's right Titus," crooned the girl, grinning and showing off some razor sharp teeth "we should get rid of her for them."

"No!" cried the witch, but the elves fell upon her, snarling and biting. There were sounds of ripping and blood began to pour out of the fallen body.

"Let's go," whimpered Lizzy, trying to pull Natalie away, "come on, please, let's go, while they're busy."

The gang did so, keeping close to the ground until the sounds of giggling, snarling and eating faded away. When far away enough, they began to run.

xxXXxx

"It's not much further now," said Mickey to the others. "The university is literally ten minutes away..."

The group stopped walking and stared. The roads had been empty for some time, but up ahead was an upturned car which was spinning slowly as something ripped it apart from the inside out.

"Should we go back?" whispered Lizzy.

"No, we're too close to the university," complained Janey.

Even though the car was a few yards away and they had been whispering, the thing inside heard them, and lifted its head out of a hole it had ripped in the vehicle.

"Oh god," groaned Polly, "it's one of those things...oh god!"

Indeed, looking down at them was a red headed, green clothed male.

"It's Fred." Said Lizzy, "it's Fred!"

"what, you mean your imaginary friend?" cried Mickey, feeling horrified for a few reasons. As he shouted at his girlfriend, Natalie suddenly began to run towards the car, making the others shout in fear and chase after her.

"Fred!" called Natalie, her heart swelling with joy, "Fred!"

"Something's wrong," thought Lizzy, chasing after the little girl. She knew Fred, she knew that when he was happy to see someone he would run up to them and greet them happily. This Fred was simply staring at them, his blue eyes blank of any feeling and even, by the look of it, any thought (not that Fred had ever been a deep thinker.)

Mickey nabbed Natalie, just in front of the car. The others stopped and starred upwards.

Fred, slowly, climbed up out of the car and back flipped effortlessly onto the ground. He stared at Natalie with heavy lidded eyes before finally asking in that same raspy voice and the same English accent, "who are you?"

Natalie's eyes filled with tears, "It's me," she said, "Nit-Face. Natalie. Remember?"

Fred cocked his head to one side and Lizzy noted how his clothes were covered in blood and oil. Fred suddenly smiled, but it seemed cold and spiteful.

"I don't," he said cheerfully, "but I do like children." He grabbed her effortlessly out of her father's hands and held her up, "you can come with me to Alfheimer," he said and began to walk away until Lizzy shouted:

"Fred, no!"

The elf turned and faced her, his eyes dead and cold once more.

"Don't say 'no' to me, you adult," he said, "no one tells me 'no', if you tell me that I will purposely do the opposite of what you told me too. I do whatever I want. Especially now." He blinked, "how do you know my name?"

"Because we are friends," she said shakily, feeling her eyes welling up like how Natalie's had done. "You looked after me when I was small. You took care of me and we had fun together."

"You...came to me...to my land...?"

"No, you always stayed with me. You never forced me to go anywhere with you. And then, when I was all grown up, you went and looked after Natalie, the little girl you have in your hands now who is scared of you."

"Children aren't scared of me!" he bit out, hugging Natalie closer to himself.

"No, I never used to be, but I am now. Please, Fred, please remember who you are."

Fred stood still for a long time, before looking back down at Natalie his eyes softening, "I remember...I remember us throwing mud at that old man's house, and us trapping your nasty baby sitter, and I remember us tricking your mom into eating that mud pie."

Natalie suddenly grinned and Fred returned it, this one being real, "I remember! I remember Nit-face, oh I'm sorry, are you ok?"

He hugged her tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder.

Lizzy touched his shoulder, "you do remember now?"

"I remember Nit-Face, and I know you are her father's girlfriend. But that's it, I don't remember looking after you, or anything like that." He watched her crest-fallen expression, "um, sorry," he added, uncertain of how to talk to an adult, before refocusing his attention back on to his special little girl, Nit-Face.


	14. Memory

"Wait a minute," cried Janey, "this guy is Fred? This guy? Seriously?" she looked about her wildly, "he looks...he looks like just a normal human! I thought he was some magical thing! Y'know, like a little gremlin or something!" She suddenly blushed as she remembered that day in the office when she had pushed him out on the wheelie chair. Had she been speaking to his lap? Oh god...

She turned to Lizzy, who was standing in stupefied by her own feelings of misery, "why didn't you tell me he was a man!" She shrieked.

Lizzy looked at her blankly. Janey shook her shoulders, "I spoke to his penis you dolt! Oh god, I'm embarrassed myself in front of your imaginary friend..."

"I am magical, for your information," smirked Fred, ignoring most of Janey's rant, "not 'imaginary.' I'm Drop Dead Fred, and I can do the sort of stuff you losers could only dream about!" He sniffed Natalie suddenly and added, "You smell funny Nit-Head."

"The scary old witch said that I was an elf," grinned the little girl in a clear, confident and loud voice. Mickey gaped, looking hurt and amazed at once. Natalie rarely spoke to him, and when she had it was quiet and reserved.

"That's weird, maybe it's because you're with me so much." Fred continued not noticing the wide-eyed adults around him, "ha-ha, I'm making you stink!"

"That means you stink too Fred!"

"I do and I don't care!"

"Ok, I'm done with this," Polly held up her hands in annoyance, "this thing already ruined my daughter and ruined my life in so many ways I can't see how having him hear making stupid conversation with a small girl is going to make things better for us. Nigel, please just take us to your friend already!"

"Yeah sure," answered Nigel vaguely, staring at Fred in wonder, "please, Mr Fred, come with us."

Fred nodded, though he seemed a little put off by having Nigel speak directly to him. Holding Natalie close and trundled along behind the rest of the group, he and Natalie talking animatedly in a childish manner the entire time.

"It'll be useful having him with us," he murmured to Polly, who looked scandalised at her ex-husband inviting the creature. "We've seen what damage these elves can do, and that there are other monsters here like the witch. We've essentially got a tame elf on our side; I think it'd be best to keep him with us."

"I would hardly call him tame, but fine," she bit back, "however if a witch or any other thing comes for us, I'm literally going to throw him at them and run to save myself. He can survive on his own."She looked behind her to Lizzy, and then further back to Fred and Natalie at the rear. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back forward, "he's just what I expected, loud, annoying and obnoxious. He turned Lizzy away from me, twice!"

"You ruined the relationship yourself!" snarled Nigel.

"What would you know? You left! Fred undermined me, and so did you. I was always made to be the bad guy, when all I tried to do was my best. I didn't want her being weird."

"She wasn't..."

"Yes she was!" Polly hissed, "she was and don't deny it. That boy Mickey was her only real friend. Having Fred made her strange, he was a curse but everyone acts like he was a blessing. I can't stand it, it's like I'm the only sane person in a nut-house!"

Nigel disagreed with her, but decided to follow his old way of dealing with her by ignoring her ranting and keeping his mouth shut. Once Polly believed something it was very difficult, if not impossible to change her mind. As long as she wasn't going to get rid of Fred, Nigel could put up with her hatred of him.

Meanwhile, Mickey sidled up next to Lizzy, who was focusing her mournful gaze onto the ground.

"So...that's Fred huh?"

"Oh, yeah..."

"He's..." Mickey looked back at the red-head chattering away to his excitable child, "He's great with Natalie. She's not been like that with anyone for years...even me...she...she hasn't talked to me like that in years."

Lizzy, suddenly realising Mickey's feelings reached out and took his hand. "She loves you Mickey, no one will ever replace you as her dad. It's just, Fred is like her. He acts her age and he gets her humour in a way no adult could. That's all. But when she out-grows Fred, and she will, you'll still be there for her. Fred will go away eventually, but you're her constant."

Mickey squeezed her hand back in gratitude before continuing, "I'm surprised by him though. He isn't what I expected. I mean, I knew what he would look like because I saw him in the mirror that time, though-" he was going to add that he never expected Fred to be as good-looking as he was, but decided that would sound weird so instead said, "I always imagined Fred would be jolly. But he isn't friendly at all. I mean he's actually pretty hostile, I can't believe he was your childhood friend, you are so sweet."

Lizzy smiled, "I think maybe he said and did all the bad stuff I secretly thought about; it's like he indulged my angry side. I've told you before, that wildness about me you liked wasn't really me at all. It was Fred. He was sort of Ying to my Yang."

"And what about those other elves?" he pushed, looking increasingly concerned, "you saw what they did to that witch. Fred's one of those things! I dunno, you make him sound like a mischievous child, and I always bought that, but...but... I'm a little nervous around this guy Lizzy! I mean I don't want to say that I agree with your mother, but maybe she did have a point. What if he is dangerous?" Mickey gulped, "what if he does try to steal Natalie away from me?"

"Fred's not evil," Lizzy said wearily, "he's just anti-social and weird. He doesn't like adults very much I don't think. He doesn't remember me and so look how he's talking to me now. I've never had that from him before. I mean we argued a lot, but I've never been dismissed by him. It hurts..." Mickey let go of her hand, causing her to look at him and notice that he looked angry and frustrated again. "What? What is it? What did I say wrong Mickey?"

"Lizzy, do you think your old friendship with a...a... man-child, is as important as my daughter possibly being stolen, or liking a sociopath more than me?" He brushed a hand through his hair the stress of the relationship and the last couple of days bearing down upon him. "Jesus Lizzy, I care about you, I love you, I do, but you're so self-centred-"

"I didn't mean for it to come out that way!" she cried, "I didn't mean it like that. I was just...I was just sharing with you. I care about Natalie and I-"

"And yet you just brushed off my fears like they were nothing. Oh he isn't dangerous, he isn't evil? Have you noticed his clothes? He's covered in blood and dirt! Who knows what he was doing before you kicked his brain into remembering Natalie? He was also destroying that car a few minutes ago. What if there were people inside it? That means he could have hurt or killed them as well, just like how his friend ripped apart and ate that old lady back there!

"Yes I know she was a witch but it hardly makes it less frightening. But you just brush off that fear and start going on about how much you miss him and how much it hurts that he doesn't talk to you in the same way!" he paused before adding, "What kind of relationship did you two have anyway?"

"What? Where is this coming from?" They stopped walking and Lizzy crossed her arms, "what are you accusing me of now?"

"Look at him Lizzy! When you used to talk about him, I always imagined him as this cute little hobbit thing with a mischievous grin, but that's not it at all. He's a grown adult, and he's..." Mickey blushed, feeling stupid for saying what he was thinking but deciding not to ignore it like before but to just say it, "and he's good looking, despite the goofy hair and clothes, you two met as adults, so maybe you like him as something more than an old childhood friend."

He looked at his small girlfriend to see her gaping at him in disgust. Shaking her head, Lizzy stormed ahead to join her mother and father. Mickey gulped and considered going after her but Janey suddenly tapped him on the back.

"We heard you both arguing," She said, Annabella at her side, "are you guys ok?"

Mickey nodded and forced a smile, "yeah, we're ok; I just don't think Lizzy is as invested in us as I am."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, me too..."

Annabella, seeing the Janey and Mickey staring at each other with mutual feelings of affection, smiled softly before running ahead to join the Cronins. Better leave them alone. It was a shame on Lizzy of course, as Annabella knew her husband had left her previously, but that led her to believe that maybe Lizzy didn't take care of her lovers well enough. Janey deserved someone kind of sweet-natured anyway.

At the furthest end of the line was Fred walking along side Natalie, the little girl allowing a skip in her step now and then. Despite the horrors she had witnessed and the destruction all around her, she now had Fred, and that made everything much better. She felt as if a terrible weight had been lifted from her and she could finally be happy again.

"Why are you smiling Fred?"

"Because I can hear that I am making people jealous with my amazingness," he said smirking, "but who cares. Where are we going?"

"To see some guy," she sighed, "I don't really know. Adults don't tell you much. But I got salt to scare the monsters and sugar to make the nice ones happy."

"Well done Nit-Head!" he cheered her.

"We're kinda far away from everyone else; shouldn't we go closer to them? Now they can see you, you can meet my dad! And Lizzy, she says you knew her when you were little!"

"I don't remember her," said Fred tonelessly, "I don't care. I like you Natalie. It's all about you. Let's keep away from them. All they do is argue and backstab each other anyway. "

"But they're nice!" she insisted.

"No adults are nice Nit-Head, not really."

"My dad is," she insisted, "and so is Lizzy."

"Well, if they are so nice why are they hurting each other's feelings now?"

Natalie looked behind her to see that they were no longer walking together, that Lizzy was walking with her mom, dad and the tall, blonde lady, but her father was now walking with Janey.

"Did they have an argument?"

"Yep," Fred said in a matter-of-fact tone, "but don't worry, we'll never argue. I never argue with children, children are too awesome."

Natalie took a hold of his hand and kissed it quickly, causing him to make disgusted noises, but Natalie just giggled. Ok, so her dad and Lizzy were fighting. Maybe Fred was right, parents just argued a lot. As long as they stayed together and she had Fred though...then none of that mattered.

"Fred," she began.

"Yeah...?"

"Why did you give me the necklace?"

"What necklace?"

She leaned forward and tugged out the dark emerald necklace to show him. Fred touched it curiously but as soon as his fingers brushed against the talisman, he hissed and pulled his fingers away. A strange look came over his face, making Natalie frown.

"Mmm, hmm, yep..." he said insensibly, "aaah...hmmm...I'm not sure why I gave that to you... Errr, it hasn't been playing up has it?"

"Some weird stuff happened. I flew up in the air. The wind picked me up. Some lady said it was the necklace's fault."

Fred was silent for a little while, a rare occurrence, but finally said, "Well, just keep it for now. Ok? Just keep it hidden. But don't worry; you'll be safe now that I'm here." He then sniggered for a little while in a disturbingly childish manner.

Natalie decided to drop the subject, her thoughts focused on trying to work out what exactly was going on. Adults were bad at telling kids the truth and for the first time, she wondered if Fred was as guilty as the rest of them for being secretive.

Would Fred do something that put her in danger?

She couldn't imagine that he would- at least not on purpose. The monster in her room had tried to take the necklace, but it had forced it away. Perhaps the necklace was protection?

This led her to another burning question.

"Fred? Why did you go away for so long?"

"When?"

"After you told me to put stuff in front of my closet, you disappeared for ages afterwards, where were you?"

Fred paused for a moment, trying to think back. He didn't have a good memory; his mind was fragmented and broken, but Natalie sounded so upset, and it made him sad to think he might have let her down by abandoning her, albeit temporarily.

He remembered standing with the others in Otherworld. He remembered that the skies were not blue- they were black. He remembered a cavern...and little pixies...he remembered stamping on them...he saw the Twins...as children and then as adults...the giant black throne with a white haired goddess upon it...

"Nerthus?" said Natalie suddenly, waking from his thoughts, "what's a Nerthus?"

"Did I say that?"

She nodded.

"Ah...well I don't know. Ignore me," he shook his head, "I'm sorry, it's too hard. I'll try to remember Nit-head, but right now I don't know."He looked around at the adults milling about him and the ruins of the city. "I don't really know why any of this is happening."

Natalie frowned at him. He seemed strange. It wasn't completely unusual for Fred to have blips of adult-like awareness, moments where he would see and talk to her as an adult would a child. But he always reverted back to type.

However, this time, before Fred could brush off his grown-up persona, the ground beneath them all began to tremble.

"Oh god!" shrieked Polly, "what now?!"

Annabella looked up and saw in an alleyway the writhing of black, oily, shadow-like tentacles. She let out a horrific scream that ripped her throat.

Fred suddenly laughed maniacally, the laugh tinged with fear and madness, "not 'oh god', more like 'oh goddess!'"


	15. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A.N. A very talky chapter. Not much action I'm afraid. Fred's a twat at first but things improve. I apologise for any spelling/typing errors, feel free to point them out.

The tentacles suddenly flew out of the alleyway, viciously beating each member of the group and sweeping them aside in its cruel attack.

Mickey and Janey fell to the side together. Janey, thinking quickly, grabbed a plank of wood beside her and began to run at the tentacles, roaring as she did.

Mickey sat on his ass gaping in amazement. She was like an Amazon...

Natalie and Fred had also fallen together, Fred hugging the child close to his chest and landing on his back so that she wouldn't get hurt. He stood up almost immediately, not even winded or sore, and immediately scanned the area for Natalie's step-mom.

Ah-ha! There she was, hiding with the tall blonde woman behind a tipped-over car.

Lizzy and Annabella groaned in union, the pain of being hit by a massive tentacle and then hitting the ground hard throbbing through their small bodies. Lizzy looked to the side and saw Fred standing with Natalie in his arms. He was grinning and waving at her.

"Get down you idiot!" she shrieked in fear, "Fred hide, think of Natalie!"

Fred cocked his head to the side, looking confused for some stupid reason. Lizzy began to feel the old sensation of exasperation in her chest when one of the tentacles shot out straight towards Fred.

Lizzy screamed but her ex-friend simply leaped backwards onto higher round in an amazing display of agility. It was inhuman, in fact, at how high and how far back he had managed to leap, all without even looking at the tentacle.

Fred stopped staring at the dark haired woman (why had he been so concerned about her?) and instead looked at Natalie, who was sniffling into his yellow T-shirt.

"Hey don't worry," he smiled, "those things are easy-peasy to fight."

As the words left his mouth, one of the tentacles began to ripple horribly before bursting open. Hundreds of pale-faced shades crawled out of its remains, their mouths open in silent screams. Janey dropped the plank of wood and screamed in horror.

"Oh, they're worse!" he shouted before calling to the others, "quick, all of you, run! Follow me, follow me!"

He jumped down and began to run. The others joined him, though they were struggling to keep up his pace. Luckily the Shades were pretty slow.

Fred felt a spark of magic, and looked down to see the necklace around Natalie's neck beginning to glow.

Ah, yep, it was all coming back to him now...

The sky above them turned a deep black and the clouds became a dark shade of purple.

As they ran Annabella looked behind her, the dark shadows of children were still chasing them, but the children were slow and their bodies so distorted that often they fell.

The group kept running until Fred finally dived into a building that used to be a large car-parking space. It looked as if it had fallen into the ground due to an earthquake, but Fred slid into it. They followed him, panting hard. Polly nearly threw up but Nigel put a comforting arm around her.

"What were those things?" he asked Fred.

"Shades," Fred smiled, "they're called Shades."

Mickey ran up to Fred with his arms open. He was frowning and looked determined. "I want my daughter," he demanded.

Fred scowled and stepped away from the blond. Mickey gaped, "she-she's my daughter! Give her to me!"

"Why? I'm doing a good job of looking after her. A better job than you could."

Mickey began to turn red, making Fred smirk spitefully. He then stuck out his tongue and sneered, "too bad for you that I'm great! Natalie is safer with me. Not you. Me."

"You're an evil little creature!" growled Polly from the back of the group. She had gotten her breath back now. The rest of the group, including Lizzy, watched with wide eyes, not knowing what to make of the drama unfolding before them. "That's what you do isn't it? You steal people's children and turn them into monsters!"

Lizzy winced at that. So her mother was now calling her a monster...

"I don't steal anyone," said Fred in a matter-of-fact voice, "they come to me. There's a difference. You're all so useless. It's embarrassing watching you all." He hugged Natalie closer to himself, not allowing her to wriggle away if she tried. "I watch you all cheating and lying and backstabbing, and then you tell children what to do and how to be good. You're the worst things in existence. Worse than the things out there." He looked at Nigel suddenly and said almost randomly, "Nerthus is coming. I remember now. Nerthus is coming."

"Who is Nerthus?" whimpered Annabella, suddenly feeling afraid of dorky-looking red-head.

"Mother Earth," breathed Janey.

"An ancient goddess," said Nigel at the same time. He looked at the rest of the gang, "she was not a nice goddess, by what we know of her."

"She isn't," confirmed Fred, "those Shades are children she has taken. They are all the lost souls that she trapped, like a spider traps flies in a web. We call them Shades because they are shadows of what they once were. Now Nerthus is back, she wants more."

Polly paled, remembering the Shades that had crawled into her home. The one called Sarah...

"More children?" asked Nigel, "but why?"

Fred shrugged and said like a grumpy child, "I don't know. I don't know everything." He glanced over at Mickey, who looked deflated. He whispered something in Natalie's ear before handing her over to her father. She hugged Mickey tightly and gave him a kiss, feeling bad for her father. She loved Fred but he was a meanie sometimes.

"You do want to be by me, don't you?" Mickey asked his daughter softly.

Natalie nodded, returning to her usual mute state. Mickey wanted to ask what Fred had said, but already knew she wouldn't tell him.

"Is there a way we can stop her?" Janey asked Fred, who rolled his eyes because he resented all the grown-ups talking to him.

"I don't know..."

"Fred, please, please think." Janey went to put her hand on his arm, but seeing him scowl thought better of it. So Fred didn't like being touched, ok she could deal with that, "I know you care about Natalie. Nerthus will hurt her. None of us want to see Natalie become a Shade."

Fred grinned at her, "actually, I already know Nit-Head won't become a Shade. I made sure."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Not telling!"

Janey smirked, understanding how to deal with this kind of nut-job, "I already know how!" she chimed.

"Do not!" Fred sounded offended and began to turn red.

"Do too."

"DO NOT!"

"Do-"

"Janey!" Lizzy suddenly interrupted them, recognising that Fred was going an ever deeper shade of red, "Janey, don't tease him." She walked over to her friend, smiling quickly at Fred who only scowled in return, "he can get quite violent!" she whispered in Janey's ear, "and that was back when he had some self control. This new Fred," she added with a gulp, "he is completely wild now. Don't aggravate him please!"

Janey nodded, remembering Lizzy's horror stories of Fred's fits of violent anger. She understood, by the stories she had been told and by observing Fred's behaviour now; Fred was essentially a toddler; a very badly behaved and potentially very dangerous toddler.

"I understand Fred," Lizzy smiled, before looking back at him, "you've been very clever little guy. You gave Natalie a necklace."

Mickey jolted, suddenly remembering the necklace around his daughter's neck.

"I'm guessing that necklace is the reason why Natalie is still safe. Am I right?"

Fred shrugged but was unable to resist a bit of an impressed, almost bashful smile, "yeah. You're right. That necklace was a present from me. I stole it. But it's not just for Nit-Head. Nerthus was stealing children. But I stole a whole bunch myself. To keep them safe, of course."

"Wait, you took kids as well?"

"Me and the others were real busy!" he shouted proudly. He looked over at Mickey at first talking confidently but getting more tangled in his thoughts as he went on. "I don't normally steal children." He began. "Well. I used to. I think. But I don't now. Someone told us to stop…hm…the…ah…the Seer. I think. The Seer said...well anyway, I did stop but now we all had to. Again. Start I mean." He pointed at her necklace, "they're all safe and sound. I just need a nice space to get a tree and then Nit-head will be safe too."

Polly rolled her eyes and turned to Nigel, "can you understand any of this gobbledy-gook?"

"FUCK YOU!" spat Fred with such a quick turn into temper it threw a lot of them into shock, "it's not gobbledy-gook you up-tight BITCH!"

Polly now looked like she was actually going to tear out Fred's throat with her bare teeth so Nigel quickly interjected, "is it safe outside now? The sooner we get the university the better."

Fred sighed, "walk, walk, walk, that's all you want to do old man."

"How far until we get there?" asked Annabella, ignoring Fred and placing her hands on her hips.

"Well, we're a little out of the way, but we should be there within half an hour."

Fred sniffed the air, "we need to hurry."

"Is it Nerthus?" Janey's voice was shaking slightly, so Mickey held her hand and smiled gently. She returned it, her heart melting slightly.

"Yes," Fred watched them with cold eyes, unconsciously seeking out Lizzy's feelings.

"Are there any spells you can perform to keep her away?" asked Nigel.

Fred shook his head, "I'm not strong enough." He paused and looked awkward, fighting with himself on how much he should reveal to them. "I think…I know things are going to get worse. A fight is on the way. Everyone is picking a side." He stopped there. The others weren't sure what to make of his comment, but the carefree elf looked so worried at that moment, it stirred fear and a sense of urgency into them again.

"Right," Nigel said, "we go again, but this time we stick closer together. We all need to have some iron with us as well." He walked up to the wreckage of a car and pulled a piece of it off.

"Whoever is without a weapon, get one now," he ordered, "I want the strongest of us to walk at the front and back of our group. Fred," he turned to the elf, "I know you are having problems with us, and I know you are keeping Natalie safe, but for the sake of her, will you please let us know if anything bad is coming our way?"

Fred shrugged, but then nodded. Natalie was still in Mickey's arms and he was aware that her father was not going to let her go. Fred felt at a loss without her.

As the others grabbed bits of metal, he looked over at the dark haired woman. She was pretty. And very sad. He wasn't surprised, the man she was betrothed to was falling in love with another woman and not even hiding it. Fred had a feeling that something like this had happened to the dark haired woman before. It was strange, but he almost felt protective of her.

Without thinking, he walked slowly over to her, a creepy smile working its way on to his face. She didn't notice him at first, she was too busy observing Natalie, Mickey and Janey all giggling together. She felt left out. Before, she had always been the centre of Fred's world. Now she didn't belong in anyone's. It was ridiculous. She felt jealous of her father as mother was now focusing on him; Janey and her amazing free coolness was getting attention from Mickey and Natalie; and Fred was focused on Natalie. It was embarrassing to be jealous of your best friend, your father and even a little girl. It was pathetic.

Tears stung her eyes and she turned around only to walk into a thin chest.

She looked up to see a slightly predatory Fred grinning down at her.

"So, you used to know me?" Fred chirped. He sniffed at her hair softly, making her recoil.

"We were friends," she said quietly, twiddling with the ends of her hair. She had begun to grow it out of its bob, but recently had come to regret it. "You used to look after me when I was a little girl."

"We're off!" called Nigel, and the group began to follow after him like a team of loyal vagabonds.

Only Annabelle stopped to look back, and noticed Fred and Lizzy walking together. Her eyebrows knotted together slightly, but then she shrugged and went to walk with Nigel and Polly.

Fred watched Mickey holding Natalie and grit his teeth together. Lizzy smirked slightly at the action, "you never liked Mickey."

Fred pulled his gaze from Natalie and focused on Lizzy, making her smile a little more. "How long have you known me?"

"A long time, Mickey and I were friends as children. You were so mean to him, you never liked him when he was a boy and then later, when we were grown up, you didn't like him then either. I've never known why. You always seemed fine with Janey."

Fred looked back up, "I don't like to share," he said in a surly tone, "and besides, he's a dork."

"He's a dork?" she exclaimed, still grinning, "no way. The only dork here is you!"

"Am not!" he cried, gasping at her in horror and sudden anger.

Lizzy at once began to giggle. Fred watched her and slowly began to laugh himself, despite originally honestly wanting to slap her face off. Literally.

He unconsciously touched his hair. The smile slid away and he told her quite seriously, "the thing is…the thing is that adults like him," he gestured at Mickey, "they're weak. Those who are weak lose their young. It's how it works."

Lizzy frowned at him. He didn't sound his usual self. She knew from past experience that Fred could be serious at times, but this was odd. His words felt strange and ominous to her.

"Fred, Mickey is a good father," she said at length, "I can promise you that."

They were getting further and further away from the main group, as they marched forwards with an aim, Fred and Lizzy ambled along lazily. Lizzy figured she'd be safe with Fred, and honestly, she was just glad to be away from her family and close once more with the one truest friend she'd ever had.

"No," he said, still twiddling with the back of his hair, "he loves her. There's a difference. Love isn't enough to make someone a good parent."

"Of course love is enough, I mean, I understand that a child needs physical things as well, such as food, but if a parent loves a child they provide that child with everything they need. Parents who love give whatever they can for their child. They fight for their child."

"Not necessarily," Fred said almost snootily, "nearly all parents love their children, but it doesn't stop that parent from being a coward or a bully or susceptible to negative outside people or things. A drug addict may love their child, but their weakness means they cannot break the cycle of their dependency. So they lose their children."

He shrugged and let go of his hair. Lizzy gaped in response, not so much because of what Fred said but how he said it.

"What's happening to you?"

"What do you mean?" he sneered.

Lizzy shook her head, "I don't know. Since becoming an adult I've ceased to understand you at all! In fact, I didn't always get you as a little girl either."

"Oh girls don't understand anything." He said this as if it were a perfectly reasonable explanation. "Plus, I'm an enigma," he smiled, eyes growing wide, "I'm a well of mystery and wisdom. Everyone should bow to me."

"Perhaps Natalie made you smarter," she pondered, ignoring his nonsense, "your clothes are slightly different, and I think your hair is longer. Maybe she made you smarter as well."

"Maybe you just underestimated me. The fact that I don't remember you must mean you were horribly dull. Maybe we had nothing to talk about."

"We talked a lot as children," she replied hotly, feeling very hurt, "but when I grew up we mostly argued." She glanced up at him again and noticed something.

"What's that in the back of your hair?"

"What?" he began to brush his hand through red strands anxiously, "nothing! I don't know! Is it a dead bee or something?"

"What, why would it be that? No!" She stopped walking and touched his hair tentatively. It was thick, coarse and rough, almost giving her the urge to shampoo and condition it for him. It was a pretty colour, all the autumn themes of reds, reddish browns and golds all woven in together to make a symphony of diabolically red hair. She felt him seize up slightly at the softness of her touch against his neck and scalp. He really didn't like being touched. But he had hugged her at one time…

"Your hair is white," she muttered, touching the patch at the bottom of his skull. "Like you've had a horrible fright or something." She fought the urge to hug him from behind.

He turned to face her. "I don't get frightened," he said unconvincingly. He touched his hair absent-mindedly, "I think I was hurt once…long ago…"

He turned around and continued after the group, who were now quite far off in the distance.

Lizzy felt her face paling as the blood drained away. Fred had been hurt, when? And by who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't like Mickey much from the film. I won't go into why, but I don't. I hope this doesn't affect the story too much, because I'd hate for my personal dislike of him to colour the story. Mickey is a good guy and I like to be fair.
> 
> I hope people like the characterisation, especially as I'm not portraying Lizzy and Fred in the best light. But I like to believe that this is sort of how they are. They aren't always very nice to one another, and personally I always liked that Lizzy felt that she could stand up and argue with Fred when she never had that confidence with anyone else (including Janey and Mickey.) I think that says a lot for their friendship, that they can argue but still get on with it and stay close to one another. Perhaps that's why people like them as a romantic pairing (despite the squikiness of him knowing her as a small child), because they are clearly so comfortable with one another.
> 
> As for the other characters, I like to think they are all under stress. So people react differently. I like Nigel, who was pretty useless, to step up and be a leader. I imagine that Mickey and Annabella are more followers. I think Janey would do her own thing, lol.
> 
> God, it's taking them forever to get to that university...


	16. Alfheimer IIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last time: Young Fridurick was murdered by his tribe for an error against their village's fertility goddess. Before his last breath he is dragged to a different world. There he is told that he is to be the toy/slave of Freyr and Freyja, two young gods who are twins. They take him to Alfheimer where they give him magic and use him to steal away more human children. Fride soon grows tired of it all and wants to return home. However they cast a spell on him which traps him in a childish mind and makes him forgetful.

Mina, Titus and Fride stood looking over the vast fields full of little green-clad elves. The Twins had just returned from another outing in Middle Realm and had bought along with them four children in all. As usual Mina, Titus and Fride were being left as their unofficial guardians.

"They're so cute," smiled Mina.

"But so small," finished Titus, "have you guys noticed that? They're so little compared to us."

"But we used to be that small," said Mina, "I think. Didn't we?"

"We were never that small," he answered, "how could we be?"

Fride frowned, "they are small because they're children."

"But I'm a child as well and I am not so small!" Titus cried, causing Mina to give him a strange look. For the first time in many decades, clarity showed on her features.

"But you are not a child," she said, "neither is Fride." She looked down at herself and noticed burgeoning breasts and that her hips had begun to widen, "oh gosh…neither am I!"

"We're grown ups?" spluttered Titus, "since when?" he turned to Fride, "you collected me, just a few hours ago. How has this happened?"

"I don't remember collecting you from anywhere," muttered Fride in a surly matter, "I don't know what you're on about…"

"I was supposed to get back to my parents!"

"Me too!" cried Mina, "oh god, my mommy and daddy!"

"Be quiet!" Fride barked, feeling panic rising, "it's alright. I'm sure there's some explanation. We'll ask later. Let's go join in hide and seek for now."He didn't really want to play at all, but he didn't want The Terrible Twins hearing any of them complaining or talking about going back home. The Twins were not very nice when they got angry and for all the elves they had acquired in Alfheimer, fried had noticed that some of the less controllable ones had disappeared at some point. He did not raise his fears with anyone, but kept the knowledge close to his chest.

"I don't want to play hide and seek," sighed Titus, "I'm tired of that game! We've been playing that and all the other games a thousand times today! Aren't you tired of playing Fride? You've been here longer than us." Titus sat down on the grass, looking tired, "gods I want to go to bed," he muttered, "I want darkness and bed and food and my parents…"

"I thought I was tired of games," Fride said quickly, ignoring Titus's later comments and focusing on his questions, "but I'm not now, and neither will you be if we play again. We'll get the Twins to join us."

"I don't want them to play with us," muttered Mina in a surly, childish tone, "they always cheat. Besides, how are you not bored?"

Fride shrugged, grinning at their desperation, "I don't know. Why do you two always think I know everything?"

"You don't know anything anymore," sneered Mina, looking at Fride in slight disgust, "you used to be the best, but now you're rubbish. You just do…" she paused and looked around nervously before hissing, "you just do whatever they want you too! You never think for yourself!"

"Everyone does what they want!" he answered hotly, shame colouring his face. "If you two are so brave, you go ask the Twins if you can go home."

Titus and Mina shot each other anxious looks, and at once the shame Fride felt turned into derisive merriment.

"Hah, see, can't do it can you? Serves you right!" he grinned nastily and hopped around them, pointing at them as he accused them, "you're two big scardey cats!"

"Am not!" shouted Titus. He stuck out his tongue before running down the hill towards the Great Tree. Mina, after a moment's thought, ran after him.

Fride was half tempted to chase after them, because a good run down the hill was always fun, and made up for the lack of space and lack of things to do in their little field of paradise. However, the dark fury of the Terrible Twins kept him quite still at the top of the hill, watching the tree with curious blue eyes.

He had noticed he was a lot taller and quite thin. Sometimes it felt as if he couldn't quite control his gangly limbs the way he used to. His body was increasingly becoming a stranger to him. He was also sure that he had mentioned this to the Twins, but he couldn't remember the outcome.

Besides he tended to avoid the Twins when he could now, choosing to spend time with the little elves. The Twins were a lot more touchy-feely, with him as well as each other, and that didn't sit too well with him. He tried telling them that he wasn't keen and that the whole thing made him feel a bit odd but they would just laugh at him. Apparently what they did was good for making the spring or some nonsense like that. He often had no idea what the Twins were babbling about.

Fride sat down, an action he rarely took, and focused on the tree. He was certain that there was a purpose to it all, a reason, a thing he was meant to do; a goal he was meant to achieve.

Mina's words haunted him. "I don't do whatever they say," he muttered to himself bitterly, "I'm Fride, I do whatever I like…" But the words felt hollow even to him, and were further undermined by the fact that he whispered them with a fast beating heart, frightened all the while that the Terrible Twins would hear him.

Above him the sky turned pale, almost white, as if overcast. A cold chill fell upon the land. Fride shivered, aware that someone was casting a dark spell. Below him the many children looked about themselves, all confused as to what was happening.

Fride stood up, worried for Titus and Mina. He shouldn't have teased them like that, What if they were hurt? The Terrible Twins had never, as far as he knew, hurt anyone, but they were gods and were keen for everyone to remember that. The threat of violence for insubordination was never far off.

Why had he bullied them? He didn't understand himself, why was he so nasty sometimes? It wasn't him, he knew it wasn't. He didn't like being a bully, or playing pranks or pushing the others around, but he still found himself doing it. It was a s if deep inside his chest he would start getting these feelings, these unpleasant emotions that confused him. Doing nasty things to others was the only way he could alleviate those feelings, but still, afterwards he would feel terribly guilty about it.

"I'm not bad," he muttered, suddenly feeling tearful, "but I always make bad things happen…" He couldn't think of any examples then and there, but he was certain his statement was true.

Just then, the coldness snapped and everything returned to normal. He looked about, thrown a little by the change. The children below began to play once more, instantly forgetting the darkness that had been so oppressive just moments before.

His heart skipped a beat and he let out a relived sigh as he saw young Titus and Mina running out of the tree house. They instantly joined in a game with some of the young elves, laughing and falling about.

His relief quickly turned to suspicion. What had the Twins told them that had eliminated their worries so quickly?

Fride gritted his teeth. He wasn't stupid. He rubbed his hand against his forehead. His own mind was a traitor to him.

"Think," he muttered, "think!"

He pushed his mind to the brink, forcing it back through so many games and so many trips to the Middle Realm, through all the abductions. He remembered the white goddess and how she scared him. But anything before that was a haze. The most he got was the face of a small girl. A girl with blue eyes and dark hair.

"She isn't here," he thought, "she isn't one of the elves. Is she something else?" He bought his hand away from his head and wondered solemnly, "did I have a mother and father?"

The White haired goddess flashed in his mind again. That's right, she was the mother of the Terrible Twins! If anyone would know what was going on, it would be her.

"Should I go to her?" he wondered. The thought of the goddess bought with it a pang of fear within his young heart. Mina's taunt flashed through his mind again, which hardened his resolve. He would go to this goddess, and he would find out the truth!


	17. Svartlfarheimer

Fride didn't have much of a plan. Fride rarely planned anything. His mind no longer worked in the way that he could plan. It took just about everything he had to make a conscious decision and to act on it. At once, Fride began to run in the opposite direction of the tree. It was like instinct telling him where he was supposed to go; and what is instinct other than a distant memory learnt by our ancestors? Only in Frides case, he was his own ancestor.

He ran and ran, feeling his heart racing, feeling the pure joy and freedom of running. Around him the green blur of grass flashed past him. Fride was going so fast in fact, that he very nearly threw himself off the edge of Alfheimer and into the endless abyss of the universe.

As it was, seeing the blue skies vanishing into the endless starry universe, Fride managed to skid to a halt just in time. A few blades of grass were pushed off the edge by his sliding feet. Heart still racing, he looked over the thin edge. The blades of grass fell for a while, but then began to float. He watched as they drifted off into the endlessness, doubtless to continue aimless drifting for all eternity.

"That could have been me," he thought with no small amount of fear. He leaned over a little further, looking underneath the rock. Sure enough he could see another world beneath their own. A world of white mist and ice.

He stood up straight and took a deep breath before putting out one foot and taking a large step. The world tilted and Fride stood on the otherside. He looked around him. Unlike Alfheimer this land was desolate and quiet. He shuddered and pulled his emerald jacket closer around his thin body. Between the white hills and mountains he could see things hiding in the shadows. He felt their eyes upon him. There was a feeling of hostility.

Fride began to giggle nervously.

"A giggling fool in my land," said a cold voice, "must be one of Freyr's and Freya's little pets."

Fride turned around quickly to see a young boy standing behind him; only this was no ordinary boy. His hair and eyes were pure black, but his skin was pale white. His lips were vaguely blue. Where his forehead met the thin hairs of his head the skin was turning purple.

Fride gagged; the boy was a standing corpse.

The boy raised what should have been arms, but instead were black octopus legs. He opened his mouth as if to scream, but the voice from before came out.

"What do you want with me? Follow my Shade and come to my Court."

Fride followed the boy with wide eyes and a shaking body. He was very frightened by death, and here it was in all its gory glory. He felt like being sick, but terror prevented him from throwing up.

The Shade led him to a cavern. Outside blue lights whizzed around at amazing speed, catching Fride's attention and making him grin. He tried to grab one so that he could take a closer look, but they seemed to want to avoid him and flew away. It seemed that they were afraid of him, and he felt sorry for that.

Inside the cavern was dark. A few white torches decorated with intricate carving stood at the jagged rock sides each with a flickering flame of blue and white.

As the cavern stretched out into a circle, there sat the White Haired goddess on her throne. All around her where the bodies of cold, blank eyed children.

"She must be Death," realised Fride with a shiver.

Her pale eyes, which had been staring out sightlessly in front of her, now turned and focused on him.

"Fridurick," she muttered, "I remember you. You're the heathen who burned my effigy."

Fride frowned, "no, my name is Fride," he said, feeling afraid to correct her but not wanting her to think he was someone bad. What kind of imbecile burned the effigy of a terrifying goddess?

A slight smirk appeared on her pale purple lips. "What is it that you want, Fride?"

Fride put his arms behind his back and stood up straight, like a soldier. "You are the mother of Freyr and Freyja, are you not?"

She nodded.

"Well, I was wondering about them and about me and about the other elves." He coughed nervously, feeling very small and stupid and deeply terrified. He had made a mistake coming to this place, but it was too late to turn back now. "Me and the other elves," he continued with feigned nonchalance, "we've started to notice that there is quite a lot of us and there isn't much space. On top of that we're all quite big and the other children are small. And then the others - not me- began to get all worried about parents and what not. I know it's silly but I thought I'd come check with you."

"Why not ask Lady Freyja or Lord Freyr?"

"Well, as lovely as your children are, they do not seem keen on telling us much. They just keep getting more of us even though there's no space"

"You seem angry with them."

"Angry?" he blinked, "I don't get angry."

The Goddess stood and slowly stepped down from her throne, touching the dank heads of her Shades as she did. "What is my name?" She asked, not bothering to answer his question.

Fride paled, "Uh…I…I'm not sure…" He put his hand on his head, "I know that you are the mother of the Twins and very powerful." His voice began to shake. He was frightened of this goddess. What if she turned him into a Shade for not remembering her name?

"Your people called me Nerthus," she said quietly, turned away from him, "I was the goddess who gave you Spring. I made sure your crops grew and your babies were healthy."

She turned and faced him. Her expression was still and cold, but Fred detected the sadness within her. "That is all gone now. My followers are extinct. My religion is dead. What was left has been stolen by my children."

She sat down on her throne once more. "All that I have are my Shades. And I shall continue to collect Shades, for in my vexation I can take out my anger by stealing those who are not appreciated." She looked at him, "Middle Realm is changing. They worship new gods, these fashionable Eastern beings that have been twisted into being about love and forgiveness." She sneered. "All lies and nonsense. But we have been cast aside and if we are believed in at all, they only see us as demons. The Twins keep taking children because they are desperate. And you can never go home, despite the promise given to you."

"What promise?" asked Fride, his heart pounding hard, "and what do you mean by 'my people'? I thought you meant the elves, but you didn't, did you? What am I?"

"You were a boy," she answered, "and you had a home on Middle Realm. I took you because of your insolence and because you were offered up to me. I said that you could return one day. You missed your sister most of all."

"I had a sister?" Fride said softly, feeling strange and light-headed.

"Yes. I swore that I would allow you back home when you became an adult, and that you would never be apart from your family."

Fride sunk to the floor, not caring that it was cold and damp. He sat quite still, the stillest he had been in many years. His head felt odd, as if a thousand thoughts were buzzing around like bees, but he couldn't focus on a single one.

At last he was able to form a single sentence, "Am I from Middle Realm?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, "but you are a different creature now."

Fride shook his head, the old feeling of negative emotions begin to scorch through his soul again. "Then why don't I remember anything?" he barked it out like an accusation, "why am I in Alfheimer now?"

"I told you already!" she said sharply, "I took you! You were an insolent pup and I punished you appropriately and put the fear of Nerthus into your pathetic little tribe!"

Fride shrunk back, shivering a little at her raised voice. Her Shades whimpered, their faces sad and sunken.

Nerthus sighed deeply before continuing more calmly, "and as for your forgetting, that is because you are a fool. You were an ignorant little boy and they turned you into a stupid, smiling doll. That is your role in life; to serve the childish whims of my children."

Fride sat quietly for a moment. He looked at the Shades. Was it true, was he really no different to them, a lost human child turned into a toy? Were Freya and Freyr so cruel that they could do that to someone? He remembered back to when Titus and Mina had gone down to question the Twins. He remembered the darkened sky and the smell of dark magic. He thought about how terrible they could be. The pranks they would play on their elves and the way they stole little boys and girls. Fride had laughed with them at the time, not realising that they were laughing at him as well.

Tears welled up in his eyes.

"C-can I go home?" he asked tentatively, "please, will you send me back?"

"You want to return?" she asked, glancing at him again, "do you really want to return to Middle Realm?"

"I want to see my family," he stood up and wiped away the tears that had fallen. Fride didn't understand everything that was being said, or even his own feelings, but on discovering that he didn't have to stay at Alfheimer, he suddenly realised that he really didn't want to. He wanted to leave; he wanted to go home. He sniffed loudly, making her curl her lip.

"Well," she said quietly, "I did promise you that I would let you back, and I did promise you that you would never be apart from them, so very well. Will you say goodbye to the Twins and the Elves?"

Fride shook his head, deciding without thinking.

"If anyone asks you who sent you," she said, "tell them that Queen Mab did."

"Queen Mab? Is that your name?"

"It's what they call me," she muttered, raising her hand and whispering a spell in a language Fride did not know. Behind him a blue light shone out and wind bellowed about the cave. The Shades watched, entranced, at the rip Mab had caused in space.

"Go through there," she said, "it is a portal to Middle Realm."

He nodded and without a second's thought, leapt through.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone who knows anything about Norse mythology knows that I am playing fast and loose with the original source material. Svartalfheimer is, basically, 'home of the dark elves' but can be translated as meaning different things. Alfheimer is home of the elves, and specifically the 'light elves' in this story.
> 
> I'll talk more about 'Mab' in future chapters, but yes, she is Nerthus, she's just renamed herself! It's often the way with old religions, they rarely vanish altogether, but they get re-named or have their titles changed. Lots of fairies were originally gods of the old pagans. Even modern religions have roots in much older ones. For example the Christian god Yahweh can be traced back to an old Babylonian Bull God called El (it's where biblical terms like Bethel (meaning 'home of El') come from, and why in the old testament the Israelites kept putting up images of Calves or Bulls whenever they 'turned away' from god- it was them returning to the old ways.)


	18. Best Friends

"They must be coming from a parallel universe," Janey explained excitedly to an entranced Mickey, "the Vikings used to believe that there were nine different worlds. They believed that Earth was in the middle."

"Kind of like Lord of the Rings?" Asked Mickey, "you know, where they call where they live Middle Earth?"

"Yeah, that's my point exactly," she smiled, glad to have found another Lord of the Rings film fan, "so now it's been safely established that it's all true, then maybe the existence of nine different realms is true as well. My friends, Maryanne, she's a pagan sister and leader of a spiritual group I attend. She said that other forces were trying to force themselves into our world," she waved her arms around at the general destruction and debris, "undoubtedly they managed to come through."

"Janey this is amazing! I've never known anyone as smart as you!"

She shrugged, blushing slightly and smirking. She had never known any man who had thought she was smart before; most thought she was just weird and an easy lay. For months she had listened to Lizzy complain about this guy, about how he seemed kind of spineless and didn't seem to know her at all, but by what Janey could tell Mickey was the kindest and most innocent man she'd ever known. How could Lizzy not appreciate someone so amazing? Especially when she would defend monsters like Fred?

Janey turned back and watched Lizzy and Fred walking in the distance. They were far away from the group, which seemed a little dangerous. Lizzy was looking straight down at the ground whilst Fred was looking all around and walking quickly, as if he were a little boy with a bad case of un-medicated ADHD.

"What do you think about him?" Mickey asked anxiously noticing that she was watching Fred uneasily.

"I think you were brave to stand up to him," she smiled at Mickey, "Fred's a lot more…aggressive and intimidating than I expected. Lizzy is talking about a manic imaginary friend she had as a child and I immediately visualised him as a tiny Jim Henderson character."

Mickey laughed, disturbing Natalie who was asleep in his arms, "that's what I thought too! As a kid I always thought he'd be awesome, but now I'm not keen to be honest. I'm not sure about having him around my daughter."

"He can't always be this bad," she said reasonably, "I mean he did help Lizzy and he's never hurt Natalie. Even Lizzy seemed surprised, so this can't be a Fred she recognises."

"Maybe," he looked back at them, "but she seems pretty comfortable with him to me."

xxXXxx

"Fred?" Lizzy glanced at him then looked away, feeling embarrassed.

"Hm? What?"

"How much do you remember? I mean, you knew that the octopus monster is Nerthus. You also remember Natalie. So what else do you remember?"

"Not you."

"I know."

He brushed his hand through his hair, feeling a little bit mean for that last comment. It was a little unnecessary, but then he wasn't a very nice person. He didn't know why his unpleasantness kept being a surprise to him.

"You can't ask a big question like that," he said at last, "it's too much for me to think about. Memory is a big vast sea of darkness," he said, his mind's eye imagining the enormity of the universe. He could imagine the endless black speckled with stars. "Asking me what I do remember would be like me asking you to count the drops of water in the ocean."

Lizzy stared at him, her eyes wide. "But memory isn't like that," she said, "not for me. Especially considering that you cannot recall much I would have thought that what you would remember would be a few snippets which I could translate into a narrative or put into some sort of order. You sound old Fred-"

"I'm not old!"

"No," she smiled, un-offended, "I mean the way you just described your memory, it seems that you must be a very old creature or entity. I've always known you weren't human and me to believe that you were real, a tangible being and not something my mind just made up. But it's weird to think that you have been around since before I met you." She paused and thought for a while before continuing, "but it makes sense. Nerthus is an old, virtually unknown goddess. If you know of her then you must be old, like she is."

Fred frowned, "I knew what she was when she arrived. I knew her Shades once I saw them…but I didn't know what they were before that. I only knew Nit-Head and all the games we play together."

Lizzy took his hand, "Fred, if you remember anything it could help us find out what's going on. It will help Natalie. I need you to try."

Fred pulled his hand out of hers, curling his lip slightly.

Lizzy took in a deep breath. She had never imagined anything like this. Fred was a lot more complex than she initially thought. Privately as a young woman she'd worried that he was a part of her that had come to life. Later when he went to Natalie, therefore proving himself as an independent being, she thought that he was some sort of magical being created by and for children. The idea that he was an ancient being was shocking.

"Who made you?" she asked, deciding that smaller, direct questions may be easier, "and have you always worked with children?"

"I don't know," he frowned, "and I don't work for any humans. I work for the Gods."

He blinked, as if his own words had surprised him. Lizzy's mouth fell open before she stepped in front of him, stopping their progress again, "then why did you spend all that time with me, and then Natalie?"

"No idea. I suppose because I like children?" He sniffed her again, brushing his face close to hers and against her hair, making her flinch uncomfortably. "You work with children as well," he grinned as he pulled away, "I can smell them on you."

"I work in a nursery," she said, "I'm really worried about the children. They're only babies Fred," She took a hold of Fred's hand again without thinking. He glanced at their clasped hands but did not pull away this time. "What if that monster took the babies? What if they are Shades now? Is there any way to save Shades?"

Fred was silent for a while before continuing to walk and saying soberly, "I've never known any shades to be saved. There was only one person who could stop Nerthus before."

"Who was that?"

They stopped walking again and Fred looked around, suddenly shifty. "Don't tell anyone this," he hissed seriously, "not your stupid boyfriend, not your giggling friends, not your horrible parents. No one."

"I won't, I swear."

"The Seer could stop her. But the Seer is missing. I'm trying to find him. That's the one thing I do remember. It's the one goal I've been keeping in my mind all this time, even before thoughts of Nit-Head came crashing back into my poor little head. If I can find him, then we can stop all this."

With her free hand she brushed Fred's hair with the back of her hand. "You're more clever than you pretend to be Fred," she said almost admiringly. "There's some sort of plan in your brain isn't there?"

He grinned at her, feeling very happy, "there's something going on up there, but I'm not sure what." He then looked at her quite seriously, blue eyes sincere, "you are a friend, aren't you? I can trust you? I can…talk to you?"

She looked at him, her eyes noting the white hair just showing at the side of his head.

"Yes," she said firmly, "you can trust me Fred. I swear it."

He bit his lip anxiously, "I'm Nit-Head's bestest friend ever…but…maybe, you could be my best friend. Not bestest. But best."

"That sounds awesome, thank you Fred." She wrapped her arms around his stomach and hugged him tightly. He put up with it for a little while before pulling her away, muttering something about not wanting to catch cooties.


	19. The First Sparks of Affection

Leading the little group, Polly and Nigel waded through the mess of the city; now a jungle of twisted metal and hills of concrete slabs.

"Where is everyone?" Nigel muttered. "There should be more people about. I was expecting to see people out helping one another, like you do after a natural disaster."

"This isn't a natural disaster Nigel," sneered Polly in her You're-So-Stupid voice, "everyone is either dead, dying or hiding. I'd be hiding if it wasn't for you and Lizzy."

There was a pause before, "so how was Lizzy after I left?"

"Golden," she sniped, "I got rid of Fred and suddenly she was golden. She was never my special little girl; she's too stupid and ugly for that. But at least she did as she was told."

'It must have been awful for Lizzy,' Nigel thought ruefully, desperately wishing he had fought harder for his daughter.

"You should have let her stay with me," he said, bitterness creeping into his voice, "you didn't love her anyway."

"Why should I have given her to you? You were a useless father."

"At least I loved her!"

"So did I!"

Nigel sighed and looked away. There were times when he swore his ex-wife was a sociopath.

Polly kept walking in silence. She could feel the waves of anger seeping out of Nigel. After all these years she still managed to do nothing more than frustrate and upset him. It was true that her relationship with Lizzy was a complicated one; both the terms love and hate could be used to sum up Polly's feelings for her child.

Polly had never wanted children. She had never even wanted to marry before she saw Nigel. He was her first and only love. She would behave differently for him; she would be coy, sweet and shy. They eventually got married and slowly but surely she revealed more of her true self to him. Polly had never been kind or friendly or popular with the other kids.

As an adult she found herself becoming exhausted pretending to be this smiling housewife, which just didn't suit her. In some mad way she had hoped that Nigel would accept her for whom she was; but the more she acted naturally, the further away he drew from her.

Having a child was the last ditch effort she could make. Perhaps having a baby would soften her. If nothing else it could convince Nigel to never leave. Lizzy would be a permanent tie between them.

But it didn't work. Instead Nigel was always happy with Lizzy, a horrible wailing monster child, and never happy with Polly. Lizzy had become a wall between them.

It was then that Polly began to resent Lizzy.

"Where did it all go wrong for you Polly?" Nigel said, snapping her out of her reverie.

She looked at him with a frown on her face, "what are you babbling on about now?"

"When did you become this person?" he looked at her with piercing eyes. She turned away. "When I first met you, you were this sweet young woman. Then you just turned. Was it me? Was it my fault?"

"Yes it was," she said, knowing that she was lying.

"What did I do wrong?"

"You never loved me."

He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to face him, "but I did love you!"

"Everyone is looking!" she bit out, pulling out of his grasp. She saw Mickey, Janey and Annabella staring at them. She threw a curt nasty smile their way and continued to walk.

"Not long now," she could hear Nigel telling them, false joviality in his voice, "five minutes tops, assuming no more debris gets in… ah!"

Polly whirled around quickly and saw that a massive bird had fallen upon her ex husband and was now pecking at him angrily. Nigel was on the floor, crying out in horror.

The rest of the group screamed out in horror before running towards him. All except Fred and Lizzy.

"Don't go near that thing!" he said quickly, holding her arm.

"But he's my father!"

Fred looked at her, big brown eyes, soft skin and dark hair. It stirred an emotion in him, something like familiarity, and it made him feel a little queasy and light headed.

"Just go to Nit Head, she's the one it's really after," he barked, before running towards the giant bird.

Fred ran very quickly, unnaturally so, easily passing the others and flying up the small hill that had Nigel and the giant bird on top of it.

Polly had thrown herself onto the bird screaming for it to leave Nigel alone. The bird opened its giant wings in response, throwing her off. It then jabbed at her one time with its powerful beak, just before it heard Fred calling out, "oh, you again?!"

It turned its head quickly, blinking in what almost looked like confusion when it first spotted Fred.

The green-clad man allowed himself a grin. "Remember me do you?" he said cheerfully, "I have what you want…"

The others watched as the great bird- which looked like a gigantic, black Eagle- veered itself up to its greatest height and shrieked at Fred. The shriek was so loud that many of them fell to the floor, gripping their ears in agony.

Natalie's ears rung painfully as she wept in Lizzy's arms. She saw Fred, the only one still standing, turning and running for his life as the bird lifted its huge wings and flew after him.

The ringing was so loud that she could not hear anything else, but she knew there was a lot of noise as Annabella was screaming something, and then everyone apart from her and Lizzy were running up the hill to where Granddad Nigel was.

She looked up at Lizzy and saw that she was starring into the direction where Fred had run. Natalie had seen Lizzy scared or worried a lot in the few months she had known her- but this was the most terrified she had ever seen her sort-of step mom look.

"It's ok;" she tried to say, "Fred will be alright." But the ringing was too powerful.

Lizzy looked down at her charge as Natalie let out a low whine. She was still gripping her ears. Lizzy took a sugar cube out of Natalie's back-pack (sugar she had packed for the 'good' monsters) and popped one in her mouth.

The girl sucked and chewed and as her ears slowly unlocked, the ringing lessened.

"Can you hear me?" she asked the child.

Natalie nodded and was rewarded with a tight smile.

"Lizzy! Lizzy!"

Lizzy looked up and saw Annabella hurtling towards her. "Lizzy, you need to get up and see your dad, it's bad!"

Lizzy gulped and nodded. Annabella ran back up the hill, but Lizzy couldn't. Her legs felt weak and she was holding the hand of Natalie, who was much slower at walking because of her little legs.

Lizzy dreaded what she would find on the hill. She could see everyone standing in a circle looking down. Janey was putting her hand on her mouth and Mickey wrapped him arm around her.

Lizzy watched the action without feeling, but glanced down to see that Natalie was watching as well with a similar expression. The girl noticed she was being watched and looked at Lizzy. Neither said anything.

What if her father was dead? How would she feel? She barely knew him. Would they think she was callous if she simply didn't cry?

Lizzy looked back to where Fred had run. Her stomach lurched at the thought of him being torn apart by a giant angry bird and not for the first time she wished she was Janey; if Janey had a man she cared about, she would have run after him and the bird, regardless of the danger.

Lizzy gripped Natalie's hand more tightly. Why was she so weak?


	20. Jungfrauenadler

Fred ran through the city streets. Almost everywhere he could see humans hiding in the shadows. The group he was with were so stupid. They didn't notice or see anything; they thought they were practically alone in that city when in fact it was teeming with life. The only reason he hadn't spotted the Jungfrauenadler before it attacked was because he had been distracted by Lizzy.

Her visage flashed in his mind and he tripped over. The Jungfrauenadler was on him in a second. She shrieked loudly, causing him to flinch into a foetal ball.

Fred's eyes were squinted shut but he could hear crackling and snapping above him. He tentatively opened them again and saw now that while the lower half of the bird's body was the same, she now had the head and torso of a woman. No arms were present, they were still wings.

He glanced at her breasts (couldn't help it,) and then up at her face, before smiling smugly. He knew that she would find it irritating, but in his immaturity he just couldn't help purposely winding her up.

She glowered at him. "You little fool," she spat, speaking in ancient German "my Mistress demands the whereabouts of the seedling you stole."

"I don't have it!" he sang in clear, modern English, thinking quickly of a way to distract her, "maybe she should ask one of her children."

"You owe your fealty to The Queen, not her babes, and you always have done!"

"I don't owe fealty to anyone;" he barked angrily, "the Seer freed us all! I just happen to prefer the Twins and decided to give them the little necklace. You know how Freya loves her jewellery."

"INGRATE!" she roared, a shriek covering her word and reminding Fred that she wasn't a woman, but a powerful monster. "You utter words of sacrilege!. Even if I serve the Great Mistress Nerthus, I still hold a respect for her offspring. I hate you little elves… everyone hates you elves. Jumped up humans with wool for brains, sex on the mind and no self respect…The Seer was a fool to let you loose on Midgard-"

"And yet," Fred interrupted, "we ingrates still managed to out-wit you silly little virgin birds. Search me if you want, I don't have the necklace."

He held out his arms and lay very still as if awaiting her to search him.

"Then your entourage!" she roared in frustration, "they must have the necklace."

She stood away from him and looked back to whence they had come. Fred, thinking of Lizzy and Natalie, leapt up in a temper, "I told you that the Twins have the necklace."

"Lies," crooned the bird, "after the Seer freed you, you were loyal to no one. But now the Seer is gone- dead some say," She looked back at him and her head slowly began to morph into that of a bird, "and now your loyalty must return to the Queen. She's the one who made you and who freed you to Midgard the first time. We are returning to the grand days of old- soon everyone will know of Nerthus. She will rise again, only this time, the whole world shall be in her grasp."

"What are you on about? She never freed me!"

But the Jungfrauenadler was back in its full bird form and unable to converse anymore.

"That bitch never freed me," he continued dangerously, the bird beginning to seethe at his rude words, "she never did! I remember…I remember being angry…because…because she tricked me! She tricked me!"

The sky began to turn very dark and Fred felt the dark force he held deep inside his soul beginning to uncoil itself. Fred couldn't remember the situation, it was only flashing images, but he could remember his feelings. Long ago he had been promised something by Queen Mab… by Nerthus, but she had tricked him. He remembered the feelings of hate and misery that had remained in him for years, twisting him into something bitter and angry all until the Seer and the children came along.

Thick storm clouds rolled across the sky, flashes of lightening between the storm clouds followed by the rumble of thunder but no rain fell. The bird cried out its warrior shriek and stabbed its beak at Fred, who leapt backwards, away from it easily. He glanced at the ground and saw a large telephone pole. It was long and broken. Perfect.

As the Jungfrauenadler lifted itself in the air, circled once then swooped down at him, its dangerous talons out for the kill, Fred picked up the pole and in a millisecond faded just as the bird reached the ground, before reappearing again in the same spot, piercing her through her chest before she could get away.

The pole had red blood running down it and on to Fred, who twisted the pole for good measure. The bird screamed in agony before falling back.

Fred watched coldly as her feathers all fell away and all that was left was the naked body of a human girl. She had been a human once, all the Jungfrauenadler were, a young virgin girl stolen by Queen Mab to live with the fey. She had probably been a nun, judging by her shorn hair and as that was Nerthus' favourite hunting spot for her bird-like slaves.

After making sure she was definitely dead, Fred walked away. The clouds were still heavy and present, but the thunder and lightning had stopped. Had he caused the weather to change? He knew the Twins were capable of such feats, they were the gods of spring after all, but it made no sense for one as lowly as him to have such capabilities.

He rubbed his forehead in frustration. He was remembering some things and felt more aware of himself and his life than he ever had before. For centuries every day had been new and his life and the lives of his children were a blur. But now a string of memories was beginning to compile itself in his mind. He didn't like it; it was confusing and he couldn't get anything straight. Memories were like water, one moment he had them and could comprehend them, the next tat had drained away and he was lost all over again.

"It's Lizzy's doing," he muttered, unconsciously brushing a hand through his hair before focusing on the small white patch at the nape of his neck, "with all her questioning I am starting to remember. Who do I owe loyalty to? Who do I serve? It can't be me, I don't know anything. It must be the Twins, they wanted the Seer back and so I am looking for him on their behalf… but still…."

He steadily made his way back to the rest of the group. He could smell the blood of humans, and it wasn't just the blood on his clothes.

He thought about Lizzy. In his time as Natalie's friend (those memories were very clear to him now) he had strong opinions on her parents; he'd thought Mickey was a waste of space and he had thought her mother was a terrible human being. But Lizzy was something of a blur to him, despite the fact that she was so prominent in Nit-Head's life, it was as if he had ignored her existence. Perhaps it was because Natalie was fond of her? Maybe he only noticed adults that annoyed him?

He crossed into the street where the rest of the gang were. He could see them up ahead and could sense the drama. The smell of blood was stronger and he could tell something was very wrong. He looked for Natalie and saw her gripping Lizzy's hand tightly. Lizzy looked pale, but uninjured.

He felt his chest relax and frowned. When had Lizzy become as important as Natalie?

Fred hung back, watching quietly as he tried to figure it out. It wasn't unusual for Fred to do this; often in his life as an Imaginary Friend he'd had times were he had made himself invisible and simply observed events in front of him. Fred didn't have the mind of an adult, he wasn't allowed to, but he was a grown up and as a result his mind inevitably clashed within itself whenever he was in or witnessing a difficult situation. Considering the types of children he looked after, that often was the case he was in.

Fred looked at them all; Annabella, Mickey, Janey and so on…and realised that he had little to no feeling for them. Not even Mickey, who he had known as long as Natalie. But when he saw Lizzy, he felt a deep fondness and warmth for her. The fact that she was attractive wasn't the only thing about her; Annabella was attractive but he didn't care about her, he just liked looking at her. Big difference. No, Lizzy had some sort of hold over him, he didn't feel the need to protect her the way he did Nit-Head, but that made sense as she was an adult and so could look after herself. So what was it?

Lizzy had said that they used to be friends. Perhaps she was telling the truth. Perhaps they really had known each other. She had once been an adorable little girl who he protected. The feelings he had for her were perhaps his emotions remembering what he could not.

He walked towards the group, staring at her the entire time, still as deep in thought as he could go.

'But it's still different,' his mind argued as he closed in on the group and began to hear a soft weeping, 'the feelings I have for her are different to the ones I have for anyone else…'

Lizzy looked at him, her eyes very brown and warm and full of tears.

He gulped and his heart skipped a beat.

Definitely different.


	21. When Polly Met Nigel

A pretty little girl with big, pale blue eyes and brown curls sat on a tree stump and looked out at the horizon. There was a small stream just outside of her family's back garden. The day was scorching and she was desperate to run out, rip off her clothes and dive into the cool water.

But she wasn't allowed, all because of her stupid cry-baby sister.

"Polly!" her mother's voice called out. She rolled her eyes in response, "Polly get inside. I need your help with putting out dinner."

'What am I, her servant?' Polly thought bitterly. She stood up, her eyes still trained on the stream. It was so stupid that her mother wouldn't let her do anything just because Sarah was always so scared. It wasn't fair.

'When I grow up, I'll swim all I want and eat ice-cream every day,' she promised herself defiantly.

"POLLY!"

xxXXxx

"What's going on?"

Lizzy turned when she heard the familiar raspy, accented voice of Fred.

She looked at him with eyes full of tears and wished she was stronger in his presence. He stared at her and she stared back at him with soft, shocked eyes.

"It happened when you led the bird away…" she began, her voice soft and shaken.

Indeed it had. After Fred had left and Lizzy managed to make her way up the hill, she was preparing herself for the worst going by how viciously the bird had gone for Nigel and by everyone else's reactions. She arrived at the top of the hill and Janey looked at her.

"Lizzy, maybe you shouldn't see this."

"See what?"

She looked over and saw blood on the ground. Nigel was on his knees, gripping his arm. Blood was pouring from the top if it.

He turned and looked at her. His glasses were cracked and he looked stressed, "Lizzy…Lizzy…" he began but seemed to have nothing to say.

Lizzy frowned and, letting go of Natalie's hand, stumbled closer to him. He was hurt, but she couldn't understand everyone's shocked reactions. But it was as she reached her father that she saw…a few feet away further down the hill, her mother lay lifeless on the ground.

"She leapt on the bird," Nigel panted, "she tried to get him off me."

It was as if the blood froze in her veins. She hadn't known how she would react to her father being hurt, she didn't know him really. But her mother…she knew her mother.

Without thinking Lizzy slid down the hill, falling to her mother's side.

Polly was lying face down, so Lizzy pulled her up and rested her head on her lap. Polly was covered in welt and cuts and looked like she was going to be heavily bruised. Lizzy put her hand in front of her mother's mouth and relieved to find she was still breathing, but just barely.

"Mom?" she called quietly, "mom? Can you hear me?"

"We need to get help," she heard Janey saying, "you said that the University is not far right Nigel?"

"You can see it," Nigel said painfully, jerking his head forwards.

Sure enough, just over the rubble, the white Cathedral-like rooftop of the University could be seen.

"That's not even five minutes," gushed Mickey excitedly, "we can make it! I'm sure they'll have medical care there."

"What about Fred?" asked Annabella, looking up as the sky suddenly turned dark and the wind began picking up. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"We have two injured," Mickey argued, "I'm sure he can find us. We need to help them first."

Lizzy stared at her mother's face, half listening to the conversation around her. 'She won't make it,' she thought, 'mother won't make it to the University.' She closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath.

The others were trying to find something they could carry Polly on, but her father sidled up beside her.

"Your mother is a real Valkyrie," he said fondly, "I've always respected that about her. She had her faults, but she really was quite tough, and that's never easy for a woman to be. She saved my life, jumping on the bird like that, it was enough to stop it from giving me a vicious strike with its beak before your friend, Fred, came along and distracted it." As he spoke he wrapped his arm tightly with a strip of material Annabella had torn off the bottom of her shirt. "Even the whole business with Fred when you were little," he continued, "it was only because she loved you. She was frightened of the whole Fred thing. I wasn't…but she had a real issue with it. Everything she does is out of love." He touched Lizzy's hair and brushed his hand down it, "she'll get through this."

Lizzy blinked and saw tears were falling from her eyes. She understood what Nigel was doing, but she knew it wasn't true. Her mother hadn't liked her very much and she never had. Some things she had done to Lizzy were out of malice, not love, but that still wasn't enough to sever the deep love Lizzy had for her mother.

"She was there," she whispered, her voice hoarse, so Nigel leaned in, "even when you left, she at least, was still there."

Nigel moved away, uncomfortable. "I…I better go help the others. Keep holding her head like that, there's a good girl."

Lizzy looked up at the black clouds. They seemed angry and wild. Somehow she knew that Fred had summoned them. The wind lifted her short, dark hair and she wondered he was and if he was ok.

"Mother," she muttered, looking back at Polly, "mother I wish you had loved me more."

xxXXxx

The first time Nigel held Lizzy in his arms, he had cried. She was so small, with a thatch of dark hair on her head and bright blue eyes. He had always considered babies slightly ugly, like small, squashed old men, but Lizzy was different. Lizzy was beautiful.

They had named her Elizabeth after Elizabeth the first of England. He wanted her to have a strong name. He had decided that with a mother like Polly, baby Lizzy could use all the strength she could get.

Polly and Nigel had been on the outs for a long time, and until the pregnancy, he'd been preparing to leave. Nigel had been angry at first, and convinced that Polly had gotten pregnant on purpose. But as he held the small bundle of pure happiness in his arms all he could think of was how lucky he was and how everything was different. Not just his life but the entire universe, for now there was a new life in it. Who knew how Lizzy might affect the world?

For the first time in years of an unhappy marriage, Nigel had felt like at long last he and Polly had something to celebrate. He had turned to Polly, exhausted from childbirth, and handed her the baby.

It really was then that he should have known something was wrong. Perhaps he had, but in his own rapture he'd refused to see it.

Polly had taken Lizzy and just stared at her blankly. She wasn't even holding her tightly, but loosely in her arms.

"Isn't she beautiful?" he had whispered, sitting down beside mother and child and kissing Polly's forehead.

Polly had frowned, "is she definitely mine?"

He'd laughed, "of course she is!"

"There's been no mistake?"

"No," he grinned, feeling more love for Polly than he ever had before, "no, she is ours. Aren't we lucky?"

He had cried a little then, from relief and happiness.

Polly remained silent the whole time.

xxXXxx

Natalie sat on the top of the hill facing away from the rest of the group and waiting for Fred. She did not like how things were going. She didn't like that Fred could be seen by the others and that he was so clearly unhappy. She didn't like that her daddy didn't like him. She didn't like that Lizzy was sad, or that daddy was falling in love with another lady (again). She didn't like that Granddad Nigel was hurt or that it looked like Grandma Polly was dead and Lizzy was sad and all alone. She wanted Fred back, even if that meant sharing him with Lizzy.

Natalie glanced behind her and saw Lizzy sitting with Polly's head on her lap. Lizzy's head was bent.

Natalie turned away quickly, feeling like she was spying. Annabella walked over and sat beside her, "hey kid, you alright?"

Natalie shook her head. She glanced at Annabella. She was pretty. She looked like a Barbie doll. She was even dressed like a Barbie- only wearing some cut-off jean shorts and a thin top which she had ripped the bottom off, so now it was a crop-top.

"Waiting for your friend?"

She nodded.

"Why's he called Drop Dead Fred?" asked Annabella, who'd been curious about the name for a long time, and had only decided to speak to Natalie in the hopes of finding out.

"Because that's his name," was the reasonable reply.

Thunder rumbled over head, but it seemed as if the storm was fading almost as suddenly as it had arrived.

"Yeah, but why's he called that? Is he dead? Or does everyone want him dead?"

Natalie sighed like an adult before responding, "I don't know…"

Annabella shrugged, feeling awkward. She wasn't good around kids. She'd never wanted any of her own. However, the whole situation with her ex-boyfriend's children had made a large impression on her. The guilt still followed her everywhere and kept her up at night, despite her knowledge that there really was nothing she could have done. As a result, she began to notice children more, their presence was made known to her and she found herself paying attention to them and quietly wishing she was able to connect with them. Maybe if she understood children better, she'd be better at protecting them. After all, hadn't Fred been a protector of Lizzy? She wasn't sure he was very good at it, but thanks to him Lizzy had the strength to leave her ass-hole husband and defy her admittedly terrifying and over-bearing mother. He was like some sort of demented golem, a creature of childish destruction bought forth through the misery of its master.

"Look, what's wrong? You seemed happy before, but now you aren't."

"Too many bad things are happening," answered Natalie, unable to properly explain her feelings or fears. "I just want Fred to come back. I want him to look after Lizzy."

"Really?" Annabella was genuinely shocked, "you don't want him back to look after you?"

Natalie stood up and looked at Annabella, "Fred once said that he would have to leave me and I would have to make friends on my own. I was sad at the time, but now I feel ok. But Lizzy isn't ok."

"Lizzy's an adult," said Annabella, feeling frustrated suddenly with Lizzy, "she can look after herself- you don't need to be scared for her. Besides she has her friend and your dad to look after her anyway."

"My dad is falling in love with Janey," stated Natalie bluntly, "he keeps looking at her and touching her. You know that as well. It's not fair when somebody has no one who loves them. I'm ok with Fred being friends with someone else."

Natalie walked away to help the others who had found a large door which they could put Polly on. Annabella stood up herself and watched the child curiously. She had no idea children could be so selfless. Her traumatic experience with Sacha, Becky and Andy had taught her that children could be brave but she had always thought that they were essentially selfish creatures. She looked down at Lizzy who was sitting alone with her dying mother. It was true about Mickey and Janey, she had seen it herself. Maybe she should tell them to cool it, especially if the kid was noticing. But still, to think that Lizzy would be alone again. She had thought that Lizzy deserved it, that if someone as pretty as her couldn't keep a man that maybe something was wrong with her, but now Annabella felt like an ass- she couldn't keep a man either and she was also estranged from her closest family members.

xxXXxx

Polly, like Annabella, had never wanted children. As a child she had said that, as a teenager she had said that, and as a young woman she had said that.

Then she met Nigel.

She had been sitting in the University library pouring over a book and desperately trying to understand it. Unbidden a thought whispered, 'Sarah would have understood this…' but she brushed it away quickly.

There was a loud sound behind her, which made her turn and look. A young, blond man stood with a furiously red face. Several large tomes were at his feet in a crumpled heap.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his accent instantly recognisable as English, "I didn't mean to make all that noise." He picked up the books quickly as she watched in fascination.

He was thin and looked like he belonged at Oxford University prancing around with tutors who wore black Graduate cloaks. He was bookish, and clearly awkward, but endearing and oddly handsome in an angular manner.

Polly had never had any luck with men. She tended to go for very American, broad boys, but they never were attracted to her. She was pretty, but she was mean. As it was, she was in university and twenty-three, but she had never had a boyfriend.

"I'm Polly," she smiled, feeling strange as her heart beat raced at her daring to speak to him. He looked up at her with soft brown eyes.

"I am Nigel," he grinned. "Pleased to meet you, may I sit next to you?"

"Of course," she whispered. No one had wanted to sit by her before. She thought of her hair pulled up in a ponytail and her unattractive polo-sweater; why hadn't she worn more attractive clothes?

"May I ask what you are reading?"

"Oh, umm, it's Beowulf. I don't really understand it." She felt stupid admitting her ignorance, but she had seen pretty girls acting dumb before, and it seemed to always attract guys. Maybe this is what she needed to do, change herself for a guy? It was anti-feminist, which was launching again in sixties America, but she really liked this guy.

Nigel laughed softly, "well it's a different language, so that's ok. I studied it in school and can speak a little Anglo-Saxon, shall I help you?"

From then on the pair began dating. Polly did her best to conceal herself. She smiled and giggled and twisted her brown hair around her finger. They went to café's and listened to Beat poetry. They visited Jazz bars and listened to Folk Music at independent music festivals. They went on a number of rallies together and both began, and failed, to be vegans at the same time as one another. They went to see Angry Man British Cinema films. They were best friends and lovers. They were part of the sixties, part of the New Wave and together they were helping change the world. Polly didn't want that to change.

Finally, in 1966 they got married in a small registry office. There were no family, Nigel having no living relatives left, and Polly being completely estranged from her own.

Nigel was happy, with the woman he loved. Polly was exhausted.

For three years she had been pretending to be someone she wasn't. She had tried little experiments, letting her true self slip through the cracks now and then to see if Nigel accepted her anyway, but that wasn't the case.

For example, she'd say something mean about a film star or about the quality of a musician. In response Nigel would cock his head and quietly admonish, "come on Polly, this isn't you."

Polly loved Nigel, even when he irritated her with his naiveté or his laissez-faire attitude, but Nigel did not love Polly, he didn't know her.

The first night of their wedding, spent in a cheap hotel, while he slept peacefully, she had wept. What was she going to do? Could she keep up the charade forever?

The answer was no, of course.

The first argument had been but a month into the marriage. She was tired and angry and he was being- to her mind- stupid and difficult. He had been horrified by her behaviour, and had left the house.

Polly felt like her heart had been ripped out when he left. Nigel was her first and only love. She had been alone almost all her life. She hadn't any friends; her family hadn't liked her and there was too much past drama there that no one could come back on; no other man would take her and she knew that. She had put too much work into capturing Nigel to let it all fail now.

She sat in the living room, a young woman still, and realised that if she lost Nigel, then she really was lost. It would mean that she had no one. She could not handle that.

Polly won Nigel back eventually; it helped that he desperately wanted things to work out. Polly couldn't always hide her true nature, which repelled the soft-hearted Nigel, but the following five years she would find ways to get him back. She faked illness, she made him jealous by pretending she had started dating someone else during one of their break-ups, she even faked a pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage.

It was the last nasty trick, (which had devastated Nigel who had been keen to be a father,) that gave her the idea of getting pregnant for real.

She hated the idea of getting fat and useless and then having a wailing brat taking up her time and money, but if that child was part of Nigel, part of herself and the thing that kept them together, then it was worth it. She would even love the baby, she was certain of that.

Polly began to dream of a little boy; preferably a little blond like Nigel. He would be her little man, her little soldier. He would have Nigel's sweetness so he could have the popularity she never had, but he would have her steel so that he'd never be anyone's fool.

She loved the child she dreamt of in her head. She could see Nigel reading him bedtime stories, and the pair of them falling asleep as she watched from the bedroom doorway.

But life, like always, pulled a nasty trick of its own on Polly.


	22. Bye Bye Polly

"God, you are so stupid!" nine-year old Polly raged, "I don't know how I put up with you, I really don't!"

"Stop being mean to me Pol," whined Sarah, her eyes big and blue and her brown hair long and straight, "I'm your only friend, you should be nicer to me."

Polly whirled around and stared at her little sister, "I have plenty of friends!" she whispered, "how dare you lie about me! I only play with you because you have no friends!"

Sarah crossed her arms defiantly, "do so."

The girls were in the barn sitting on haystacks and playing School; Polly was the teacher and Sarah was her stupid pupil.

"A make-believe friend does not count as a friend," answered Polly, feeling coolly angry. Her little sister was such a dolt it drove her insane; she couldn't believe they were related.

"I can't make friends at school because you're a big bully and are mean to everyone," argued Sarah, unfolding her arms and raising her voice a little, "but it's ok because my friend is not make-believe, he's invisible."

Polly snorted a nasty laugh.

Sarah stood up, anger on her face, "I don't want to play with you, I'm going to play with him. He's nice. He helps me be brave, not like you. You like me being scared all the time because it makes you feel big and strong when you're not."

She stalked away.

"Fine!" shouted Polly after her, "leave and play with your magical invisible friend, you big Stupid! You're too much of a baby anyway- you're even too scared to go swimming! Everyone is big and strong compared to you, even little Ladybirds!"

She sat down on her haystack and crossed her legs. This nonsense of an invisible friend started two weeks ago and Polly didn't believe a word of it. It was so silly. Mother and Father just laughed it off and thought it was sweet even though Sarah did a ton of naughty stuff and said her imaginary friend made her do it. If it had been Polly who had done any of it, she'd get in trouble, but when it was Sarah and her ''friend'' it was cute. God, everyone was so thick!

It wasn't true about her being a bully either. It was just that she had good ideas and the dumb kids at school never wanted to hear them. Polly reckoned it's because they were so clueless that they were jealous of her good ideas and so refused to follow them out of petulant spite. As for not wanting to be friends with Sarah, that's because Sarah was boring and a scaredy-cat and homely. Polly picked up a small hand mirror she owned and preened a little in it. At least she was pretty; her hair was naturally curly and she always wore pretty, frilly dresses. Sarah had straight hair that was far too long and always ran around in blue (ugh- a boy's colour) dungarees and chequered T-shirts, like a tow-truck driver or something.

"Polly!" Her mother was shrieking her name again.

Polly groaned.

"Polly! POLLY?!"

"In here," she responded at last, just to get her mother to stop screaming. Her mother, Betty, walked into the barn. Her black hair was in a tight, sensible bob and she wore the same clothes as any of the male farmhands. Polly couldn't believe that father allowed mother to go around looking like that. Even though there was no war and women could go back to being normal housewives, here her mother was, acting like a man and being an annoyance as well as an unattractive embarrassment.

"Where is your sister?" Betty demanded.

"She stormed off to play with her imaginary friend."

"Haven't your father and I told you a thousand times to not leave her alone?" thundered her mother furiously. Polly bit her tongue to hold back a retort.

"Go find her now!" Betty yelled, "I want you both I the kitchen and waiting for lunch in five minutes."

"But mama-!"

"FIVE MINUTES!"

Betty stormed away and Polly, not for the first time, felt keenly aware that her mother did not like her very much. It was clear that both she and father liked Sarah so much more; maybe they felt sorry for her. But it didn't make Polly feel less full of resentment.

"Sarah!" she called, leaving the barn and feeling the summer sun beating down on her with its relentless heat, "Sarah where are you? Mama wants us. Sarah!"

She walked around the farmhouse to the back garden. The tree stump stood empty. The large tree with the swing was also empty.

That swing had been built specially for Sarah. Polly hated it.

"Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah, come on! Where are you? Mama wants us!" Polly began to feel frantic. It was far too hot to be outside and she was well aware that mother was going to be very angry with her if she didn't get Sarah in soon.

She saw the garden fence and the stream trickling beyond it. Her parents were always telling them not to go beyond that fence. Polly had a few times to get to the stream to swim, and had been beaten for it. However Sarah always did as she was told.

'Until recently,' a voice in her mind said, 'her friend makes her braver and naughtier. She must have gone over the fence, just to prove a point to you about not being a scaredy-cat, if nothing else.'

Polly sighed and walked towards the fence. She leaned against it and scanned the fields.

"Sarah!" she called more lazily, feeling tired and fed-up, "Sarah…" she looked down at the cool water.

She blinked.

And blinked again, slowly and hard, as if not quite believing her eyes.

Then she felt very cold and the blood drained from her face. Polly would tell herself later that she was alright… and she would keep up that mantra for the rest of her life. But she wasn't alright and she never would be ever again.

xxXXxx

"Come on Lizzy," she felt someone pulling her away from her mother, "come away Lizzy…"

Lizzy looked up and saw Janey was the one pulling her, holding her under her arms and attempting to her up. "Come on Lizzy move, we need to get Polly on to the door!"

Lizzy shook her head. She wanted to tell them that it was no good; that Polly was fading fast, but she couldn't get the words out.

Mickey took over from Janey, pulling Lizzy to her feet whilst the others took Polly and began to heave her onto the door.

Mickey left her to help the others, but Lizzy was surprised when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves around her in a slightly awkward side-long embrace.

She turned to see it was Annabella holding her. "I'm sorry about your mother," the blonde said, looking a bit embarrassed.

Lizzy smiled softly and whispered, "thank you."

The smile on her lips felt fragile and fake, but she managed it anyway. She could tell that Annabella thought she was weak and pathetic and although Lizzy agreed with that surmise of her personality, she couldn't help feeling ashamed at the same time. She blinked a few times, trying to hold in the tears. She couldn't understand her own feelings. Mother had never been kind to her, yet why did she feel so awful now? Why did she feel as if her heart were breaking?

"Lizzy, come quick!" It was Nigel.

Polly's eyes were just barely opening. Lizzy stumbled over to her mother's side and knelt down to listen to her.

"Mother," she whispered, "mother can you hear me?"

"Tell her we're getting her to safety!" she could hear Mickey saying behind her before he yelled to Polly, "don't worry, we'll get you to the university Mrs Cronin! Tell her Lizzy, tell her!"

Lizzy closed her eyes and wished he would be quiet.

"Tell…tell…"

She opened her eyes and saw her mother trying to speak. She leaned down closer to her face and cried, "what is it? What are you saying?"

"Tell your stupid boyfriend to shut up," croaked Polly and Lizzy felt herself letting out a small laugh.

She looked at her mother, touching her face slightly. She didn't know what to say.

"How can you love me?" whispered Polly, "after everything I did?"

"I know you tried," Lizzy said, barely able to get the words out. "I know you wanted to be a good mother."

Polly watched her daughter. It was true, part of the reason why she was such a bad mother was because of her desperation to be a good one.

After she left the hospital with baby Lizzy and Nigel she spent long days all alone with Lizzy. She felt as if the walls of her house had become a cell. She had no friends and her life was no longer her own. Instead of winning back Nigel through being a loving mother, Polly had become more emotionally remote and angrier, pushing Nigel away from her.

She didn't love her baby and she had the strongest feeling that Lizzy was not her own. She kept thinking that her real baby had been taken by someone else and that she was stuck with this…alien thing.

Polly had known that what she was feeling would sound crazy to anyone else, so she had kept her thoughts to herself. She had hoped that as Lizzy grew older, perhaps she would grow to love her.

However, frustration with what would be her only child continued to develop. It seemed stupid…but for Polly it had been an awful experience raising her, and one particular feat of motherhood eluded her, and that had really destroyed her:

Lizzy wouldn't drink her breast milk.

She just refused, no matter what Polly did. Everyone said that formula was damaging and everyone made her feel (though few out-right said) that if your child had formula that you were a bad or irresponsible parent. Polly was bombarded with health experts on television going on about the dangers of formula, there were adverts telling her that 'natural' milk was best. And Polly tried, she really did, but Lizzy would only drink formula.

Polly remembered one fateful day- the day had ruined any relationship she and Lizzy could ever have. Nigel was out at work as usual. She had spent every day alone with her baby for the better part of a month, and it was steadily driving her quite insane. This particular lunchtime Lizzy was, as always, refusing to feed off her and was wailing in her crib. Polly had decided to starve Lizzy a little, deciding that she had spoiled the baby. Perhaps, if Lizzy became hungry enough, then she would take breast milk instead of formula? Problem solved!

But instead for the better part of an hour Lizzy continued to refuse Polly, and instead her wails became louder and more desperate. Polly never really spoke to Lizzy; there was no point talking to a newborn and she didn't understand the whole 'baby-talk' nonsense people (like Nigel) liked to do. However, she found herself first pleading with her baby, before angrily screaming back at it.

Aware that she was sounding like a lunatic and possibly the neighbours could hear, Polly, tired and desperate had finally snapped. She sat on the settee in the living room and sobbed, just ignoring her demon-baby screaming.

It was after about twenty minutes of this torture that Polly had gotten off the settee, picked up Lizzy and gone upstairs into the bathroom. Once there she placed the sniffling Lizzy on to the floor and began to fill the bath with cold water.

Lizzy was wailing again soon enough, she was hungry and wanted her formula milk.

Why hadn't Polly's been good enough?

Picking up the baby in almost a trance-like state, Polly had put Lizzy into the water. Lizzy had screamed at first, the cold hurting her… but then she stopped as Polly slowly dipped her completely into the water.

Polly watched as her baby kicked and fussed in the water, unable to breath. It was then that she flashed back…

She remembered Sarah in the water… Sarah who had looked so much like Lizzy did now …blue eyes open and starring…skin tinged pale blue…brown hair flowing out….

In that second Polly came to her senses enough to pull Lizzy back out of the water with a terrified gasp.

Lizzy had gone to hospital shortly afterwards, and the doctors were told that it was all an accident caused by a slightly negligent due to exhaustion mother leaving her child in the bath unsupervised for a moment.

Luckily Social Services, whilst called, were soon confident that it was all an accident and the whole thing blew over, but Polly never forgot. She knew now, and had come to accept in some ways, that her daughter was the spitting image of Sarah, her dead sister.

In some perverse way as Lizzy grew older she began to treat her like Sarah. She insisted that Lizzy had her hair out, long and straight. She loved her daughter wearing blue and didn't mind her slightly tom-boyish ways. She even pushed Lizzy around the same way she had her younger sister. She never explained any of this to Nigel, who as the years rolled by became increasingly convinced that she was simply a monster.

So, one day, when Lizzy came skipping down the stairs with uncharacteristic cheer, Nigel had asked her why she was so happy.

"Because of Drop Dead Fred," she'd replied.

Polly had been at the kitchen stove, making up a hearty weekend breakfast, and Lizzy and Nigel had sat at the table. Polly had rolled her eyes a little, assuming Lizzy was talking about some toy or cartoon that happened to have an unsuitably macabre name.

"Who's Drop Dead Fred?" Nigel asked with a warmth he never used towards Polly any more. She felt the sting of rejection and jealousy.

"My friend. He's invisible." Lizzy laughed, "but he's make me not scared!"

Polly had nearly fainted, she'd tipped over the frying pan of eggs and bacon, escaping with a few minor burns. Whilst Nigel had fussed over her, Polly had shrieked at Lizzy that she was not having an imaginary friend and that she was very naughty if she did. Lizzy had run away in tears and terror, and Nigel thought she had completely lost it. But she'd never been able to explain herself; she could never explain the tight, icy fear that Fred gave her.

She could not bear to tell Nigel that when she had been a little girl, she had bullied and harassed her sister into loneliness so that her only friend was some invisible, mischievous fiend; one that had ultimately gotten her killed.

Sarah had been afraid of the stream outside their farm for good reason. The water was cold and deceptively calm. The levels and speed of it could change dramatically and in a short period of time. It is why her parents had charged her with taking care of her sister when they were outside, and why they had beaten her when she played in the stream herself.

After finding Sarah, Polly had called over one of the farmhands, who cried out in horror and had leapt into the water to fish out the child. Sarah eyes were open and her skin was pale and her lips were blue.

Polly had run away. She hid out in the fields and was sick a few times. The face of her sister haunted her. She remembered hearing screams from the farm; her mother, crying over her baby being found dead.

Polly had hid for hours, until night came and she snuck back home. Betty had been sitting at the table, her black bob uncharacteristically ruffled and messy as testament to her pulling at it. Her father had locked himself away at in his office apparently refusing to deal with what had happened.

Polly always remembered Betty turning and looking at her; dark brown eyes devoid of emotion. Polly had never felt very loved by her parents; her father busy and distant (they said he was never quite 'right' after the war) and her mama seemingly tired and angry. Growing up was not easy, Polly felt like her parents now truly did not love her, that maybe they even hated her. In her adolescence she became increasingly irritable and frustrated with those around her and as a result, even more emotionally isolated. Her parents never stopped mourning Sarah. The swing on the tree remained; ever more desolate and morbid.

Polly left home the day after she graduated high school. She never called her parents, and never told them where she was moving to. She doubted that they cared.

As Lizzy grew older and Fred had been locked away in the box, there was a relief for Polly as she began to not look like Sarah any more. Lizzy's eyes and hair darkened, and she began to wear dresses and bows in her hair.

For a few years, Polly felt like she was in control. She never believed she loved Lizzy, but there was protectiveness there. She wanted Lizzy to have everything she didn't and as such behaved the opposite of Betty; she was attentive to Lizzy, paying attention to every detail in Lizzy's life and making sure that Lizzy did everything right.

But then disaster struck as the Imaginary Friend returned. Like her past was ever haunting her, it all came to a head when Lizzy returned one day to Polly, eyes dark and devoid of emotion, black hair cut into a sharp bob and Lizzy proclaiming her independence from Polly.

As Lizzy had walked away, leaving Polly holding the box, Polly decided that life was truly unfair and she couldn't wait until it was all over.

xxXXxx

Now, as a woman dying in the street, Polly looked up at her daughter who was now crying softly for her.

"Sarah," she gasped, causing Lizzy to frown, "Sarah is a shade…a shade…please find a way to save her!"

"But who is Sarah?" asked Lizzy.

Polly's eyes filled with tears and she began to sob, "my sister," she managed to whisper, "please…"

"We can't talk," Mickey interrupted, "we need to get to the University."

Janey grabbed Lizzy's arm, "come on, we have to go!"

But Lizzy pushed her away. She never noticed but everyone cast surprised looks at one another that Lizzy had just thrown off her friend.

"You have a sister?" asked Lizzy hurriedly, "and you know she is a shade?"

"She came to me, a few nights ago, please, use Fred, save her."

"I will, I swear mother." Lizzy was no longer crying, but gripping her mother's hand tightly. She had never seen Polly like this, so unreserved and so sad, "I swear."

"Thank you," sighed Polly, relief flooding her eyes. Memories swam in her mind, and she was slightly surprised to find that in her final moments, rather than seeing Nigel or Sarah or Betty…all she could see was Lizzy; Lizzy as a baby; Lizzy as a toddler; Lizzy pouting for getting told off; Lizzy going to school for the first time; Lizzy smiling; Lizzy getting married; Lizzy; Lizzy…

"I lo-" began Polly, but then darkness overtook, and she fell back, her last breath leaving. She never got to tell Lizzy what she had tried to say- and do- all of Lizzy's life.

Lizzy stood, eyes welling up again.

Everyone else was in shock.

"Is she…?" asked Mickey, "oh god is she dead?"

Someone must have said yes, but in that moment Lizzy merely felt a great depression, like a physical force pushing into her. She couldn't react, couldn't cry, only stand there, barely able to breathe. All she knew was that her mother was gone and all the years of fighting for approval, all the years wanting affection, were now all for nothing because Polly had died and nothing had changed, not even at the end. Not even when she was dying had she managed to tell Lizzy what she had always wanted to hear.

"What's going on?"

It was as if the lights had turned back on. Sound and her surroundings came back to her and the grief she felt overpowering her mind were thrown off her.

Lizzy turned when she heard the familiar raspy, accented voice of Fred. There was her friend, staring at her with unnaturally blue eyes. He was covered in blood and gore and yet she suddenly felt more relief with him than she did for any of the other people around her.

"It happened when you led the bird away…" she began, "it's my mother…she's…" Lizzy allowed a small shrug as a couple of tears escaped her eyes, "she's gone. She's dead."

She stopped and waited for a snort of derision or a nasty comment. Neither came. Instead, after a moment of simply looking at her, Fred simply reached out and tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear.

Lizzy let out a small quiet sob that was more of a sigh, and rushed in, hugging him tightly.

Fred froze for a moment; she could feel the tension thrumming through his thin body. But then, very loosely, he put one arm around her and held it there. Lizzy sighed a little in relief before burying her face deep into his neck. He smelt like pinewood and for some bizarre reason petrol. But it was Fred, and the scent was a familiar one of childhood she had forgotten. He was taller than she remembered as well; she was on tip-toe just to reach him. She could feel his body heat- it was too hot and his heartbeat was too fast. This was another thing from childhood she remembered, on those rare occasions when he would hug her, or let her lie hr head on his chest as he told a story. She had missed Fred, the Fred that she recognised not as a naughty child or petulant kid, but the Fred that was her friend.

Janey looked at Lizzy and then at Mickey, who was holding his daughter close to him. She couldn't understand it, why was Lizzy hugging Fred when she could be hugging her wonderful boyfriend instead?

As his daughter wept, Nigel stared down at the corpse of his ex-wife. He hadn't loved Polly for a long time, but she must have loved him. She had died saving him. He knelt down and touched her face softly. He had always thought she was beautiful, the most beautiful girl he'd ever known. The time he had spent with her (before Lizzy's birth) had been the happiest years of his life, even the hard times early in their marriage. It was only her treatment of Lizzy that had finally killed any love he'd had for her.

But now as he looked down at her broken body amongst the wreckage, Nigel couldn't help feeling that somewhere down the line, he'd failed his wife somehow.


	23. Personal Revelations

There was much debate over what to do with Polly's body. There was a general unwillingness to drag it all the way to the University, as there wasn't more chance she'd be buried there than out in the ruins of the City. However, it seemed cruel to leave her body out in the open and when Fred very casually said that her body would likely be eaten by something, Nigel finally decided that he would carry her body. After all, she had been his wife and other than Lizzy, he was the only person in the group who had any real connection to her. Everyone really had wanted Lizzy to make the decision on what to do with her mother, as no one had really cared for Polly, and she was next of kin. However, it seemed that Lizzy was completely detaching herself from the situation and wasn't saying anything.

Polly's face was covered, and then she was put on the door and dragged along with rope connected to the door, by Nigel for the rest of the journey. Without being asked, Lizzy silently joined him and pulled the door along with him.

Mickey watched her, feeling very sad but completely uncertain on what to say. Lizzy was often an enigma to him; he rarely understood what she was thinking and feeling. This was an unhappy fact for him to realise (around three months into their dating) because he'd always seen Lizzy as the Love of His Life. Turns out she really was just a kid he used to know, and an adult woman he liked (most of the time.)

It was Fred who surprised everyone when he (after glowering at Mickey protectively holding Natalie's hand) went over to Nigel and Lizzy and began to help them drag the door along. He did so with one hand and seemingly little effort, but the load for them suddenly became a lot lighter.

Mickey gritted his teeth; he should have thought of doing that. He looked down at his daughter, who returned his stare and even gave an encouraging smile as if to say, 'it's alright daddy.'

"I thought you hated her," muttered Lizzy to Fred, "you always used to call her the Mega Bitch."

He snorted out a nasty chuckle, "really? I'm funny." A pause, "well she was a bitch. I don't like her."

Lizzy blinked slowly. Her mind felt like it was made of mush and she couldn't quite keep up with everyone. "You don't have to pull her along if you don't want to."

"Mickey Fart Pants has Nit-Head and so I can't go near her without him getting stroppy. You're the next best thing to Nit Face, being my friend and all. Not best friend…but friend."

She nodded, not showing that this hurt a little bit. It was just in a way; the first time Fred and she finally met, he had been desperate to see her, and she had made it more than clear that he was a far second best to Charles. It was a cosmic justice therefore, that the second time they met their roles were reversed.

"I don't know how I feel," she muttered after some time, "I was crying and I feel sad but I…I'm aware that she never really cared about me. I feel kind of angry with her at the same time. But then guilty for being angry. It's hard."

"Welcome to my world," answered Fred who was not good at giving out sympathy, "now you know how I feel. I don't understand anything …anything about myself or what is really going on and it's shit."

"Really?" interrupted Nigel, who'd been listening in to their conversation curiously. He'd heard so much about Fred it was crazy to meet him in real life- and since Fred was such an inappropriate playmate for a child, he was desperate to know how he and Lizzy communicated. He had told himself to remain silent and just listen, but hearing Fred speak had prompted his academic interest in Fred as well. "You do not understand yourself?"

"He can't remember much," answered Lizzy after it was clear that Fred was suddenly sulking and not answering Nigel."We're thinking that Fred's been around for a really long time," explained Lizzy further, trying to explain without giving anything away that Fred had confided in her earlier, "and so his mind has slipped most of his memories away. He remembers Natalie, but hardly anything else before that."

Feeling relieved at Lizzy perking up slightly when not focusing in silence on her mother, Nigel encouraged the line of conversation.

"So do you know what you are?"

"A friend. Natalie's friend."

"Hmm, but that's your role Fred, not what you are. There's a difference." Nigel watched the strange red-head, who was looking straight on with a slightly sulky expression on his face. "Do you remember your home? You were not always with Lizzy when she was a girl and you were her friend."

Fred glanced at Lizzy, trying to remember her as a child. He just couldn't, everything was a grey blur. It was strange to think Natalie would grow up one day, and he would never see her. Fred wondered why for a moment. He touched the back of his hair automatically, feeling the white area and concentrating hard.

"The place I lived had hills and sunshine and blue skies and clouds. It never rained and was never overcast. When I think of it in my head, I think of the term Otherworld, but I think that what I call anywhere that isn't here." Fred waved his free arm at the general landscape. He was doing all the pulling now, with Nigel and Lizzy staring at him in fascination. If Fred had noticed all the weight he was carrying, he never showed it.

"And what is here?" breathed Lizzy.

"It's … well…it's in the middle."

"Aha!" Nigel cried, letting go of the rope completely, "Middle Realm or Midgard or Middle Earth. Just like in the old Nordic tales. Fred…earlier, before you were yourself, you said you were going to take Natalie to Alfheimer. In old Nordic tales, Alfheim was the home of the Light Elves."

Fred stayed silent, processing the information.

Lizzy stared. It was weird to think of Fred as an elf. Elves conjured up images of tiny green men jigging around a mushroom hand in hand. Fred was not one of those. Granted, her father had explained what elves were in the old days, but it didn't make it easier to swallow. It was as bizarre as finding out Mickey was a leprechaun, or Janey a fairy, or Annabella a demi-god.

"If you like Fred," Nigel said tentatively, "when we get to the University, I'll do whatever I can to make you remember everything. Maybe then we can find out what is going on and how to stop it."

Fred nodded quickly, not actually caring too much about his past, but hoping that maybe he could start to remember Lizzy.

xxXXxx

Further to the left of Lizzy, Nigel and Fred was the rest of the group. Mickey was walking hand in hand with Natalie. The sky was still dark, but slowly lightening.

"Weird weather, right Natalie?"

His daughter looked up at him, but said nothing before turning away, glancing at Fred as she did.

"Do you miss him?" Mickey noticed who she was looking at. He felt guilty at keeping her away from her friend, but Fred was not a good influence on a child. No one had mentioned it, least not of all Lizzy (though he could forgive her- her mother had just died after all) but after Fred had come back he was covered in even more blood, this time red and fresh. There was no guessing what had happened to the bird that attacked Nigel.

Mickey wasn't an idiot, he knew that Fred had helped them all by maiming, or killing, that thing and as Nigel had suggested earlier, it was useful to have him around. However, he was also temperamental, angry and violent- never mind a full grown adult. Mickey didn't want someone like that around his child. He had thought Fred was small and happy if not a little mischievous, not like how he really was at all. From the first time he had seen Fred crawling under Natalie's bed in the mirror, he had a bad and creepy feeling about Fred and it seemed on meeting him that his fears were not unfounded.

Lizzy seemed happy to have Fred all too herself again though. Mickey frowned, it was true their relationship had not been good and the circumstances revolving around Joanne's death had essentially killed it, but he had thought Lizzy was more invested in him and Natalie than she actually was. Any mother would have been comforting Natalie now; Lizzy should have been there with him and Natalie, holding Natalie's free hand, not chatting with her old, insane friend.

Speaking of Joanne, Natalie still did not know her mother was dead. He would have to speak to her, when they were safe at the University. He would probably have to do it alone, Lizzy would complain that she was too weak or worried to do it. He sighed, feeling frustrated and for the first time sympathised a little with Lizzy's ex-husband. Lizzy was kind of aggravating sometimes; it was like dealing with a frightened little girl instead of an adult woman.

Maybe she and Fred deserved each other; two big kids together.

'I hate what this is doing to me,' he thought miserably, 'I used to be a fun guy. I got thrown out of a restaurant for goodness sake! But now I sound all stern. This isn't who I am…' He glanced over at Fred and the others again, 'I suppose it's because this isn't about spaghetti throwing, this is about someone who's psychotic. I'm right about this, I know I am. When we get to the University, I'll call things off with Lizzy. It's about time anyway. I haven't been happy for a long time and I think Natalie deserves better.'

They saw the University in front of them and everyone unconsciously began to walk faster before anything else could get in the way and slow them down (or kill them.)

The University was reasonably large, it was in the shape of a square and had a courtyard in the middle of it which was open for students, not unlike Britain Medieval Castles. It was made of large, white bricks and stood tall and imposing. That was not to say however that the disaster of the last twenty-four hours had not affected it. All the windows were boarded up and outside it were small fires and general debris and destruction. Around it houses were ruined but the University stood strong. It was simply too mighty to bring down.

"Nigel was right to bring us here," muttered Janey to Annabella who nodded in agreement.

They walked through the main gates (which had been torn open) and onto the drive leading up to the front door. The railings of the main gates and fence surrounding the university were mangled and bits of flesh and gore hung off them.

The group stared as they passed, Mickey now carrying Natalie and putting her face against his chest so she wouldn't see.

"The gates are made of iron," said Nigel clearly enough for everyone to hear before he turned to Fred to continue, "and according to a lot of mythology, iron is repellent to the supernatural. Is this true?"

Fred shrugged, "I don't know. It doesn't bother me, but some of the old ones don't like it."

"The old ones? Who are they?"

"The ones that are old," scoffed Fred as if Mickey had been particularly stupid asking such a question.

There was then a soft growl. They all turned to see a strange creature climbing down the stone statues outside the University.

The creature looked like a lion at first glance, but two short eagle wings were on its back, and its face, when it looked at them, was bizarrely humanoid.

The creature sat in front of the University's large doors (which were normally always open). It licked its paws calmly as they anxiously approached. There was a deep reverberating hum; like a cat's purr but heavier and deeper.

"I believe it's a Sphinx," whispered Nigel.

"I am," said the creature, without moving its mouth.

They all shivered. The voice of the Sphinx was of a female and very low and deep. It came across as intelligent and dangerous. They walked towards it slowly, even Fred looked a little wide eyed and nervous.

The Sphinx stopped licking its paw and instead stared at them face on. The purring stopped.

"A-are we allowed in the University?" asked Nigel.

"You are," said the voice again, now sounding more masculine. It seemed it alternated between the two genders. "But only after you have answered all three of my riddles correctly."

Nigel sighed. Of course. He turned to face the others, "what do you think?"

"It's too late to turn back now," said Janey.

"We've come too far already," continued Mickey.

"And we have nowhere else to go," reminded Annabella.

Lizzy looked down at the door carrying the wrapped body of her mother. They couldn't carry her anywhere else and Lizzy wasn't going to leave her mother's body unburied and in the streets.

Fred watched her closely. Part of him wanted to give her a slap and shout that her mother was an absolute witch who never loved her, so she should stop moping. However, he was aware that his slight temper was getting in the way of him being allowed to be with his best friend Nit-Head, so he remained silent.

"Do you know much about Sphinxes Fred?" Janey had slunk up to him without him noticing, he must have really focused on Lizzy; that woman really was a distraction.

He turned to Janey, seeing her staring up at him (clearly finding him fascinating- he didn't blame her) and answered, "no, never even seen one before. I didn't know they even existed."

"R-really?"

"What happens if we lose?" Nigel asked the creature.

"Then I will eat you all."

Nigel gulped and looked back to the others. They looked frightened but determined. Lizzy hesitantly took hold of Fred's hand, and he didn't pull away. Mickey glanced down at his daughter. If that thing attacked there was no way he could protect her, however…he looked over to where Fred stood.

Kissing his daughter on the head he walked over to the Former Imaginary Friend.

"Fred," he said quietly, making Fred and Lizzy look at him in surprise, "I need you to look after Natalie if things go wrong."

Fred nodded silently, apparently dumb-founded. With effort, Mickey passed Natalie over into Fred's arms, Fred letting go of Lizzy's hand to grasp the child. Lizzy didn't even notice, instead she stood beside Mickey, "that was a good thing to do," she muttered, "I realise how hard that must have been."

"Natalie's the most important thing in the world to me," he answered simply. She smiled softly and nodded and for a moment the pair realised why they cared about each other. Sure, it probably wasn't love and never really had been. But what Lizzy and Mickey had always shared was a friendship. So instead of slipping her hand into Fred's, she held Mickey's hand and she, Fred, Natalie and Mickey all stood together, finally united.

"Alright," Nigel said, "we accept you challenge."


	24. Sphinx

The creature growled so softly it was almost a croon. The ground reverberated a little under its pressure and the group shuffled closer together, Fred holding Natalie closer to his chest, which made Mickey feel a little better about handing her over.

'The first riddle is: what get's wetter and wetter the more it dries?'

Nigel completely blanked, but luckily the others rounded up and began to give ideas.

"It's gotta be a play on words," said Annabella.

"So wetter might not mean wet as in water or dries might not mean getting…dry?…" Fred trailed off, confused.

"We should work out what the 'it' is," said Mickey confidently, smiling at Fred's beffudled look which was oddly endearing. "That's where it all lies. Logically things cannot get wetter as they also dry up."

Suddenly Janey looked excited, "a towel!" She barked, "or a dishcloth or something. They dry up and they get wetter as they do so."

"So what do we say?" asked Mickey as Annabella stared in amazement at Janey who she now saw as a genius, "should we go with towel?"

The team all nodded before straightening side by side into a line and answering the Griffin.

"We say a towel," said Mickey, his heart beating hard.

The creature bent its head in a noble nod, 'that is correct.'

The group had a quick cheer and threw hugs around Janey and Mickey in happiness. The two found themselves squashed closely together, and smiled shyly. Annabella then pulled Janey away a little suddenly. Janey cast her a confused look, but Annabella simply shook her head.

'The second riddle is,' continued the creature, interrupting their joy: 'Had by few but treasured by all, I'm on the inside and outside and I make men fall. What am I?'

The group huddled up again, this time everyone looking at Janey and Mickey expectantly.

"Ok," drawled Janey, "so, something on the inside and on the outside, what can that be?"

"And it's got to be something everyone wants: happiness?"

Janey's eyes lit up, "yes, that must be it!"

Fred pulled a face, "how is happiness on the outside and inside?"

"Because it's a feeling inside," explained Mickey patiently, speaking as if he were talking to his daughter, "but it can be seen on the outside through someone's expression."

Fred couldn't think of an answer to that, but he quietly resented feeling stupid. It had never bothered him before, but for the first time since he could remember, he suddenly wished his brain was a little more adult and logical. Glancing at Nit-Head who was still in his arms, he could see her admiring her father and felt a pang of jealousy. He then looked over to Lizzy and Nigel. Lizzy looked as if she was a little distracted, and Nigel looked simply unconvinced.

"No," said Nigel , shaking his head slowly, is arms folded. "It can't be happiness. This thing makes men fall."

"Well people 'fall' trying to attain happiness," argued Janey but Nigel remained unconvinced.

"It's stretching it too far," he insisted, "the answer is something else. I think you're on the right tracks though. What else do all people want?"

"Money?" asked Janey, looking up at Mickey quizzically.

"Loyalty," he proposed.

"Love," said Lizzy so quietly no one aside from Fred heard her.

"Chocolate!" cried Natalie, making Fred proud and Mickey sad that she rarely spoke without Fred nearby.

"Humour," said Fred immediately after Natalie.

"Beauty," said Annabella. She blinked and repeated it, "beauty. That's it, beauty!"

Everyone turned to look at her and suddenly she felt nervous. Annabella was very self-aware; she knew what she was good at and what she was bad at. She was good at being hot, seductive and had street smarts, but she was also quite aware that she was not funny, witty or academically clever. Part of her wanted to participate and give her idea, but if she was wrong everyone would die.

She looked over at Fred who was holding Natalie tight. Fred was a freak show but she was confident he would get Natalie away, and that was most important; all the adults had chosen to engage in this dangerous game.

She took a deep breath and said, "it must be beauty. Everyone wants to be beautiful, if not on the outside then at least on the inside. It also causes people to fall." She looked over at Lizzy and smiled tightly, "I met one man who lost his dedicated wife because he was unable to resist beauty."

Lizzy stared, but said nothing.

The others mused on her words. "You know," began Mickey slowly, "I think you're right. Ok, let's tell the Griffin."

They faced the creature once more; it was now lying on the concrete stairs and blinking at them lazily like a normal housecat.

Annabella stepped forwards, the others flanking her from behind. It felt strange, her being at the helm of a group. She was always comfortable in social situations, but this was new. This was a post-apocalyptic world, and here she was, the head of a rag tag team about to give an answer to a difficult question she had worked out using her brain.

"Beauty," her voice was strong, nothing like how she felt inside.

The creature bowed its head in a single nod once more, 'correct.'

Annabella's heart burst with relief and happiness, she even felt a little weak at the knees as the others cheered.

'Last riddle,' said the creature, 'A millionaire is found dead Sunday morning in the bathroom. He had been shot in the head. His wife calls the police immediately. The police question the wife and staff. The wife said she was asleep, the cook said he was cooking breakfast, the gardener said she was out picking vegetables, the butler said he was cleaning the closet, the maid said she was getting the post and the Caretaker said he was checking some pipe-work in the basement. The police immediately arrested the murderer. Who was the murderer?'

"It was the wife," said Nigel, "her excuse was too convenient."

"Yeah," confirmed Janey, "why would she be asleep when everyone else was awake? It must have been late in the morning."

Annabella shrugged, "but it was a Sunday, lots of people sleep in late then; I do."

"It was the maid…" Lizzy said quietly, but no one heard her apart from Fred. As the others continued to argue he rolled his eyes and turned to the Griffin.

"It was the maid," he said, repeating Lizzy's answer. Everyone gasped in horror before staring at the creature in terror.

'Correct,' it said, getting up and moving away from the front door.

Janey glared at Fred, "that was dangerous; you should have let us work it together!"

"You were ignoring Lizzy," he argued, "she got it right."

"Well we didn't hear her," said Annabella, leaping to Janey's defence.

"That's because she was being quiet. Her mother died less than twenty minutes ago, pay closer attention to-" Fred snapped his mouth shut- as if embarrassed at his outburst or worried he'd say more- and stormed into the University with Natalie still in his arms.

Janey and Annabella looked over to Lizzy who was arranging Polly's body on the door and preparing to drag it into the University.

"Are you ok?" Lizzy jumped slightly when she felt Janey's hand land on her shoulder.

She nodded softly, but smiled when Janey and Annabella silently took the rope and helped her drag the door up the stone steps and into the University foyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who knows why the Maid was the murderer? Can you work it out?


	25. University

The University was amazing. The first thing they saw was the grand entrance hall. All over the wood walls, paintings of old Deans had been taken down and instead there were placards full of lists. The lists consisted of the names of those who were missing, names of those living in the University, and names of those who had died.

There were a crowd of people at the windows and door; evidently they had been watching the group outside. A thin, rakish man in a tidy black suit rushed up to them.

"Hi there," he called, "welcome, welcome to the university! We're so glad you survived! Especially the child! " The man looked at Natalie as if she were something out of a fairytale.

"Why did you put that thing out there?" asked Nigel, "how many people have died trying to get passed it?"

The man in the suit looked sad, "many have died. It's awful. Everyone here are those who have made it in. We never put the Sphinx there. When the Great Change happened, it just appeared. We've been doing a lot of research and it seems that Sphinx's are attracted to knowledge. It wouldn't surprise us if there is a Sphinx outside every university, school, library and college in the world right now." He paused, "the good thing is that the Sphinx keeps away all the monsters and demons. You are safe here. Please, come with me." He glanced down at the door Fred was holding; it still had the body of Polly on it.

"If you leave that here," he said, looking around and then calling over two men, "we can make sure she's properly dealt with and then we'll bury her. There's a morgue in the sciences and forensics department."

"Thank you," muttered Nigel as then men took the body away.

Around them the crowds had dispersed, though many were sending odd (even envious) glances towards Fred and Mickey, who had Natalie between them. Both men gripped her hands a little more tightly, noticing she was the only child in the hall. Janey and Anabella received a few smiles from people, which they both took as a good sign. It made them all feel a bit safer.

"Does everyone get along here?" asked Mickey anxiously.

"Generally yes," said the man. "We've had a few scraps as people are stressed, but overall people have been working together."

The man began to walk and they trailed after him.

"There's not that much space left on campus," he continued to talk as they walked, "we can give you guys bedrooms but you'll have to share I'm afraid."

"We came here because I have a colleague here called Franklin O'Houevre," said Nigel, pushing forward and walking in step with the man, "Do you know him, is he still alive?"

"Yes, that's who I'm taking you to," answered the man, once more looking at Natalie, "no one has seen a child in ages. We thought they had all been taken. Since The Change Professor O'Houevre's knowledge and expertise have kept us alive."

They were in the back of the university now, away from all the pomp and glory of the public area. Now the corridors looked simple and basic, like in any establishment. There were doors either side of the narrow hallway which had names on the fronts, indicating that they were all offices.

They came to a halt in front of one which read Prof. O'Houevre and entered after receiving permission after a few loud knocks.

The thin man opened the door to a rather nice, if small, office. Like nearly every academic there were books everywhere, not just on shelves but on piles all over the floor also. Interspersed among the books were mugs with mould growing in them and various plates that had the remains of food on them.

A portly man with red cheeks and a friendly disposition sat behind an appropriately untidy desk.

"Nigel?" he cried, a faint Louisianna accent colouring an otherwise standard cultured American accent, "is that you old friend?"

"It sure is!"

The men both cheered and hugged as the group loitered awkwardly in the hallway and threshold of the office.

The men finally released one another and Nigel turned and gestured towards Lizzy, his eyes bright and his skin red.

"This is my daughter," he said quickly, "Elizabeth."

"Pleased to meet you-" began Franklin, holding out his hand to shake hers when his eyes landed on the little blonde of the group. "My-my god!" He sputtered, "is that a child?!"

Overcome with shyness, Natalie tucked her head into her father's back. Mickey laughed softly, "yeah, this is Natalie. My little Angel."

Franklin stared, "my god…" he muttered again before returning to his senses. "I do apologise, how rude of me, please, come in, come in."

They piled into the small room, sitting where they could, even if that was on a small pile of books in lieu of a stool or chair.

Franklin sat at his own desk after thanking the thin man, whose name apparently was David, and asking him to get them all some tea and refreshments.

"Is Natalie really that amazing?" asked Janey, "are there really that few children left?"

"There are no children left," intoned Franklin, "well, until I saw Natalie here. All of them are gone. We've had waves of traumatised parents who have seen their screaming children dragged away from their beds and cots by some Lovecraftian monster…"

Natalie whined and gripped Mickey into a hug. Franklin looked ashamed, "I apologise," he said, searching around his desk until he found a box of lollipops. He handed one to Natalie quickly, "I forget myself my dear," he continued. She smiled softly at him in response, the lollipop gripped in her hand but not consumed.

"Really though," he said, sitting back, "the situation with the children was happening weeks before The Change, we should have all worked out long ago that something supernatural was happening."

"Some of us did," said Janey, a little smugly, "before all this happened, I took Natalie to a wiccan. She was supposed to do a protection spell for Natalie but things went a little…screwy."

"A little screwy?" bit out Lizzy, who was still angry about it, "things went crazy. Natalie floated into the air."

"And," said Janey, not caring that Lizzy was pissed off (Lizzy was high strung and always pissed off as far as Janey was concerned, "and Natalie herself said that something had been called."

"Something had been called?" Franklin repeated, "by what and why?"

They all knew it was to do with the necklace Fred had given Natalie, but for some reason, none of them could say this.

Janey shrugged, "not sure. And little Natalie here couldn't tell us either."

Franklin sat back in his chair, "well, well, this is highly intriguing. Of course you, Nigel, would be the only man capable of showing me something highly impressive during a time when Witches and Ghouls suddenly walk the Earth."

"It's not just Natalie," said Nigel, smiling softly, "There's another person in our group you'll be interested in talking to…"


	26. Oath

Franklin sat back in his chair, "well, well, this is highly intriguing. Of course you, Nigel, would be the only man capable of showing me something shockingly unusual during a time when Witches and Ghouls suddenly walk the Earth."

"It's not just Natalie," said Nigel, smiling softly, "There's another person in our group you'll be interested in talking to." He turned to look at Fred was looking very bored and sulky in the corner.

"Meet Drop Dead Fred."

Franklin took in Fred's appearance; blood soaked, large feathers stuck to him here and there, and an all-green, ill-fitting outfit underneath all the gore. Franklin felt himself paling. He looked up and saw the man giving him a sneer of a smirk. "Oh my…" he muttered, "an elf…he's an elf…"

"Yes," began Nigel excitedly, "and-"

Franklin stood up and backed into the wall, "w-we cannot have him here Nigel!" he gasped, "he's dangerous."

Fred leaned out of the corner, half enjoying Franklin being frightened of him, and half not wanting anymore negativity coming his way. He glanced at Nit-Head sitting on her dad's lap; the last thing he needed as Mikey getting more ammunition to not like him and so to keep his daughter away. Fred sighed. Life was a lot simpler when he'd been invisible. Visibility was no fun at all.

"Please, Franklin, don't worry, he's completely tame."

(Fred scowled. He wasn't tame. He was a wild man!) The professor looked at Nigel as if he were completely mad. He glanced down at Natalie, suppressing the urge to take the child and run as far away as he could from the green-clothed man.

Nigel smiled benignly, "honestly Franklin, it's true. Do you recall all those times I would tell you about Lizzy's imaginary friend and the pranks he'd pull? Well, it turns out he isn't imaginary. He's been with young Natalie here all this time but the recent changes have made him visible. He's been quite the asset to us."

Franklin moved slowly and cautiously, as one would do with a lion in the room, and sat back down slowly. He took in a deep breath before looking over at Fred and analysing him closely. "How interesting," he said quietly, some of the joviality in his voice now gone. "So you are an elf, Mr Drop Dead Fred."

Fred shrugged, "I suppose. I don't dance around mushrooms though."

"Do you steal children?"

Fred scowled and narrowed his eyes, "I haven't stolen Nit-Head."

The other shuffled a little, uncomfortable about the change of atmosphere in the room. Even if everyone wasn't sold on Fred yet, they had become friendlier towards him. Having someone being completely distrustful of him again bought back old fears they held against him. Many remembered how, when he had first appeared, he had tried to take Natalie from them.

The door knocked and David re-appeared with a tray full of cakes, crackers and a pot of tea surrounded by an assortment of ill-matching mugs. He lay the tray down carefully on a pile of papers on the Professor's desk.

"You may want to add your names to the list in the main foyer," he said, evidently not noticing the tense mood, "and to check the list of names as well. You may know other survivors who made it here."

Annabella stood, she wanted out of this nightmare. "I-I have a sister," she stammered, "Maryanne. I'd like to find her."

"Maryanne's my friend," continued Janey, "so I'd like to look as well."

Mickey suddenly stood, "I should go as well. Go see if I know any names. You wanna come Lizzy?"

"I'd rather stay," Lizzy answered slowly. She felt completely exhausted. The shock of her mother's death was still with her. She knew the others were not so affected, as they didn't know Polly as well and certainly had not liked her. But for Lizzy, she felt heavily traumatised. She didn't want to wander around a huge university. She just wanted to stay with the people she cared about; she wanted to stay with her father and with Fred…and preferably Mickey, but she couldn't force him to stay with her. Lizzy wanted to explain this to Mickey, but how could she, especially in a room full of people and with his animosity towards Fred?

"Yeah of course you would…" he muttered, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Natalie?"

The little girl shook her head and stayed resolutely beside Lizzy.

"We'll add your mom's name to the list," smiled Janey, patting Lizzy's shoulder. "And then come find you all later, ok?"

Lizzy allowed a small smile and thanked her. The three left, so Fred slunk over to the table and sat down on a chair. The room seemed a lot bigger and less claustrophobic now.

Franklin leaned forward on his desk, "if you truly are on our side," he said to Fred, "then we need information from you."

"I can't tell you anything," bit out Fred, "I don't remember anything."

"We'll help you remember."

xxXXxx

David led Janey, Annabella and Mickey all the way back to the main foyer, before giving out quick directions to where his office was and where they could find the cafeteria.

"We're arranging rooms for you as we speak," he informed them, "come find me in my office around half five this evening. It should all be sorted by then. Until then, feel free to visit the cafeteria. Food is free as money is pointless now. But we are on rations."

"I'm just glad there's food at all," sighed Janey as David left with a smile and a wave, "I'm starving."

"Me too," answered Annabella, "I'd eat anything right now." She thought back to when she was at that awful Chucky Cheese House. She'd happily eat that pizza and anything else put in front of her now. The day she had spent with Stephen and the kids haunted her mind. She thought about it before bed and as soon as she woke up. She wondered if she would ever be free of the horror she'd witnessed.

She wondered what had happened to Stephen. The last she'd seen of him was him screaming at her, demanding her to give his children back. The police had had to restrain him as they'd arrested her; he wanted to kill her, so certain she had hurt his kids in some way.

Mickey and Janey were in heavy discussion over something she didn't care about. She needed to talk to Janey, to tell her to be less obvious about her interest in him, but not here while he was still around. She sighed, and looked over to the boards on the wall.

"I'm gonna sign up Polly's name," she said to the others, and without waiting for a response, walked over to the wall. The Death board was huge, the names written in a scruffy scrawl. She added Polly Cronin to the bottom, and then scanned through the list. Then she saw them:

Sasha Donnell

Becky Donnell

Andy Donnell

Tears welled in her eyes and fear spread throughout her chest. The kids' names had been written down. There was no mention of Stephen but presumably he had been the one to write their names, which meant he was here somewhere. She looked around, fear etched on to her face, but the hall was large and there were many people about. She looked back at the Life Board but now felt too anxious to write her own name; what if he read it and saw she was here? Did he still think that she had killed his kids and hidden them somewhere?

The screams of the children echoed in her mind again. She shut her eyes and swallowed a whimper. If only she could re-do that day! Everything would so different! She had wanted to see if her sister had made it to the Uni, but she was too scared to read through the Life Board. Instead, keeping her head low and trying to keep her breathing steady, she headed towards the toilets on the far side of the corridor leading out of the hall.

She ambled into the bathroom and leaned against a sink. She took a few breaths before pouring the cold water and splashing it on her face. She looked up at herself in the mirror. She was wearing no make-up and no product in her hair, which was tied up in a messy bun. Her face was streaked with dirt, now running off from the cold water. Her nails were short, blunt and filled with dirt and grime. A rash was breaking out on her neck, probably psoriasis, a condition she struggled with when she was younger. Annabella closed her eyes. Those had been rough days. Covered from her scalp down in silvery white scales. The other kids mocked her or were frightened of her. She hated going to school and rarely attended. It was no surprise when she left with poor grades and cripplingly low self esteem. And now the damned disease was coming back.

Annabella remembered her sixteenth birthday. It should have been a big deal, 'Sweet Sixteen' and all that, but no one cared. All her birthdays were essentially get-togethers for the adults, who would talk business and gossip. A few kids were at the party, but they were all there for their parents, not because they liked Annabella.

She'd sat in her room most of the day, carefully applying foundation over her skin (which, in the long term, would make it worse and even more itchy). She made sure the put on a white dress (better to hide any unsightly flaking) and brushed and oiled her hair carefully before adding the moisturisers from her doctor. It'd taken a few hours to work up the nerve to go down, and so it was late evening by the time she even turned up at her own party. Back in those days, she was pretty scared of other people. It was weird, but her skin condition had, in a way, made her vain. She worried and fussed over her looks all the time. Aesthetics had become very important to her, to the point where she didn't focus on personality or character very much.

She walked downstairs slowly. As usual there were adults, business partners of her parents, all standing around drinking and talking shop. They ignored her. Instead she headed outside to where the pool was. Maryanne, her very attractive younger sister, had invited over a bunch of friends from school. This was Annabella's chance to be cool.

The school kids had accepted her sister, surely, when they saw that she was pretty too, they could accept her?

She avoided all the teens splashing about in the pool; that would only wash off her make-up and dry out her skin. It was embarrassing having to rely on her younger sister to bring in any cool kids, but there was nothing she could do about it, so she just had to make the best of it.

She went around the pool, noting that everyone was ignoring her despite the fact that it was her birthday party, and went towards the beach house. Inside Led Zeppelin were playing loudly and she could smell the pot everyone was smoking.

Those who weren't in swimwear were wearing jeans and t-shirts, so now she felt pretty stupid wearing a glitzy dress, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She wasn't going to change. Besides, maybe this would help her stand out in a good way.

She stood outside the beach house, taking in a few deep breaths. She could do this.

Suddenly the door opened and standing there was Brad, one of the cool guys. He wasn't very handsome, but he was funny and so a lot of people liked him.

"Hey," she smiled softly.

He looked at her in a confused way, as if he didn't know who she was.

"D-d'you like my party?" she said, hating that she stammered.

"It's your party?" he asked, his dark brown eyes almost comically large, "I thought it was Maryanne's?"

She felt her smile falter, but luckily she managed to keep it plastered on her face, "actually, it-it's my birthday."

"So, where are all your friends?"

She could tell by the way that he said it that he'd meant that question innocently, but it stung all the same. She felt herself flush red then grow pale. She looked around, thinking desperately for an answer.

"I-I love Led Zeppelin," she said suddenly, "I'm hoping to go see them next August."

"That's cool," he shrugged, seeming uncomfortable, "I prefer Alice Cooper though."

"Oh, me too!"

"Right…well can I get passed?"

She frowned, "huh?"

He gave a crooked, embarrassed smile, "I need to take a leak," he said with some exasperation.

"Oh, I'm blocking the," she trailed off, blushing and stood to the side, "sorry."

He walked passed and away without looking at her again. God she had messed that up! Still, it was a first try and it was only Brad, who was still low on the scale. She would not make the same mistakes in front of the others!

She stepped inside and looked around.

There was Kelly and her group of gal-pals in one corner, all gossiping and looking hot. They had never bullied Annabella, but she was completely intimidated by them all the same. There was something about other females, especially a group of other females, that exerted power. It scared her a little, though she was never certain why. She'd avoid them at all costs.

Throughout the rest of the cabin were people sitting around chatting and drinking what looked like might be alcohol. Lots of people were smoking cigarettes and pot. Then, in the far corner, she saw Maryanne sitting with the coolest group in school. Maryanne's hair was out and wavy; she looked like a mermaid. She was wearing a bikini with a varsity jacket that belonged to a boy draped over her. The cutest boy in school, Don Withers, had his arm across her shoulders, though she was looking at another boy, Billy Longstone, next to her and laughing at something he'd said. There were a few girls in the group also; Bryony, Tiffany and Alexia who were all cheerleaders, and Jody and Natasha who were just cool and who always dressed like rock-stars. Sam and Tony were from the football team and both were dating cheerleaders. There was also a guy named Jamie who was mixed race, but despite being brown-skinned everyone found him cool anyway.

Annabella turned away and grabbed herself a drink from a table that had various goods laid out on it. Her heart was beating and the anxiety was high. 'This is your big night,' she told herself, 'just be confident. You can do this.'

She tipped some Jack Daniels in a cup and added some coke. She only chose it because she knew her parents drank it. She had no idea what it tasted like. She sipped a little and grimaced. It was horrible. The taste was acidic and it burnt her mouth and throat. Still, she just needed to be seen with it, she didn't have to drink it all.

She turned back around and walked up to the group. They looked up at her with blank faces, even Maryanne, as if they didn't know her.

"Hi," she grinned. "This is my sixteenth birthday party so I hope you're all having fun." She took a sip of her drink and managed not to cough. Everyone was still looking at her vacantly. "Hey sis," she said to Maryanne, "we should do something like this for your sixteenth next year."

"This is your sister?" Don asked Maryanne.

"It is," she said with the roll of her eyes before saying to Annabella, "trust me, my birthday will be a lot cooler than this. For starters, all my friends will actually turn up, and secondly people will actually know it's my birthday."

The group all laughed, partially genuinely amused and partially due to the awkwardness of the situation. Annabella grit her teeth. She and Maryanne were not close, despite being only a year apart, but they weren't cruel to one another. Maryanne's words were a shock, as well as deeply hurtful. She stared down at her little sister stunned by her callousness. Maryanne, which ruby red lips, large blue eyes and her long, wavy blonde hair, stared back defiantly.

"I was just being nice and saying hi," Annabella answered quietly. "There was no need to be a bitch."

She turned away. The music and laughter around her seemed muted and everything suddenly seemed far away. She walked to the door and opened it, nearly bumping straight into Brad again. He said something to her, but she couldn't hear it. Instead she went straight out of her family's back garden and wandered down to the beach. It was evening and getting dark.

A few people were still milling about on the sand. There were a few teens making out here and there. Annabella sat on the sand away from everyone else. She began to drink her JD and coke, not minding how it tasted now. In fact, she was kind of getting used to it. Starting to almost like it. The taste was bad but she was getting a bit of a buzz at least, which was dulling the sharp spike of shame.

She had read in a magazine that to make friends one has to be confident. Well, she had tried to be confident, but that had been awful. Her greatest fear in fact. And the worst part was, the person humiliating her had been her own sister. Why, why had Maryanne done that?

Annabella then realised she had been scratching subconsciously. She pulled her hands away from her skin and saw blood on her fingernails. The stinging of broken, dry skin was on her arms and nape. Great, she'd injured herself scratching again.

She sighed and finished her drink, used to the pain of psoriasis.

"Never again," she whispered, tears pricking at her eyes, "never again will someone talk to me like that and get away with it."

She went over to the house, keeping to the shadows like she was Frankenstein's monster or something, and grabbed herself a bottle of something. She headed back to the beach and spent the rest of her sixteenth birthday party there. Her skin burned, but as she drank the stinging and itching subsided and she felt happily buzzed. She didn't even pay attention to what she was drinking (it hardly mattered) but it was a lot sweeter than the JD and coke. Eventually she leaned back and lay down on the beach. The stars came out above her. Cold, twinkling diamonds of light. Thousands of years ago, a boy named Fridurick had looked up and seen the same skies, just before being dragged to the Otherworld.

Annabella was a small and petty person, but unlike the likes of Polly, she was fully aware of her flaws. Most people would get over not being in the popular club, or having a skin condition, or getting burned by a family member in front of one's peers, but for Annabella, it had been a pretty devastating experience. She took another swig of the bottle, chocking as she was on her back, and looked back at the sky. The alcohol was making her tired now. No wonder he mother, who drank all the time, slept so much.

She'd show them all. She'd go on to be hot. Really hot. And she'd get a nice, rich husband. Even if he was someone else's she didn't care. She'd steal him away. She'd be glamorous and go on holidays all year round. They'd all want to be part of her social circle, but she wouldn't let them.

"I'll show you," she muttered drunkenly, "I'll show you all."

Annabella was a determined person, and this statement, this oath to herself, would go on to guide her and all her actions for another fifteen years.

That was until the Great Change of course.

As a thirty year old, Annabella looked in the mirror. 'I won't hide,' she decided, taking in the marks of psoriasis on her neck and forehead, 'I won't hide from Stephen or anyone else.'

But one thing was certain to change; her life's goal. Wanting to be the prettiest and best seemed pretty stupid and pointless now. She had never believed you could 'steal' anyone who didn't want to be stolen, but watching Janey, she had begun to see how needy and sad it looked when a woman acted like that with someone else's partner. As much as she liked Janey, she didn't want to be that kind of person anymore. She didn't want to be seen that way. She didn't want to feel the way she did with Charles.

She stared at the mirror with hard blue eyes. 'I'll find out what happened to them,' she decided, 'Andy, Becky and Sasha. I'll find out what happened. I'll work with Drop Dead Fred and all the others. If they're still alive, maybe I can save them. Them and all the other kids.'

The toilet flushed behind her and another woman came out. The women smiled briefly at one another as the lady washed her hands.

Annabella left the bathroom and drifted back into the foyer. Mickey and Janey were nowhere to be seen. She sighed and walked over to the windows where a lot of people were sitting. She looked out at the city. It was like a post apocalyptic dystopia. It was crazy to think fairytale creatures had caused this much damage. The Sphinx was pacing up and down, its tail swishing to and fro in a languid manner. The skies were still dark from the earlier storm and evening was beginning to settle in.

She looked at a man sitting beside her. He was young, early twenties, and looked pensive.

"Excuse me," she began, he looked at her with light brown eyes, "is it true that all the children have vanished?"

Tears welled in his eyes, "y-yeah. Did you not know?"

"I hid in my apartment all last night, and I have travelled all day today. I'm out of touch."

"All the kids are gone. Everyone under the age of fifteen. My little sister. My cousins…my…" he looked away, blinking the tears away.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you sad."

"It's ok." He continued to look out of the window, as if looking for someone, "like most people here, I'm sad all the time."


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all, genuinely sorry and embarrassed for how long this took. I’m like the George R.R of fanfiction (only, minus the talent). Basically bad stuff continues to happen in real life. Then I came back to his only to discover all my work had been lost.
> 
> So, starting afresh now. Apologies for any  tedious repetition or continuity errors. Feel free to point them out. Feel free into bullying me into writing a new chapter if I'm taking too long as well, 'cause I am the worst.

“This is a great opportunity for us to discover exactly what has happened here and how to stop it,” Franklin was saying, “What have you gleaned from your time with Fred?”

“We’ve mostly been trying to survive,” admitted Nigel, “so we haven’t had much time to talk. And,” he peered at Fred “it seems are Fantastical Friend does not remember much.”

“Oh really?”

“He doesn’t remember me,” said Lizzy suddenly, her voice threadbare, a soft smile on her lips, “and we were together a very long time. He only remembers Natalie.”

Fred felt very bad at that moment. _‘I_ want _to remember,’_ he wanted to say _, ‘I like you and I know we must have had some good, funny times together. I wish I remember but I don’t. Please don’t be sad.’_ But Fred just couldn’t say those sort of things. Instead he found himself reaching over and punching her a tad too hard on the shoulder. She yelped and looked at him with wide, brown eyes.

He grinned and shrugged.

“What is the earliest thing you do remember Fred?” Asked Franklin, watching the pair before him with curious eyes.

Fred sighed, “it’s not that simple doc! I remember bits and pieces. All fragmented. Like the time I smashed the mirror in Granny Jocelyn’s house.”

“You did that?!” cried Lizzy, “Poor Natalie was the one who got into trouble for breaking it.”

“It was her idea to be fair…”

“Let’s not get distracted,” interrupted Franklin but not unkindly. “Please, everyone, help yourself to tea and biscuits. Fred, do you eat?”

Fred stared for a moment before shaking his head.

“Tell me,” continued the professor, “when you try to remember, what things do you see?”

Fred made an uncomfortable noise, “it’s hard. It’s too much.” He sighed, “I remember things I did with Nit-Head in detail. Every trick we played; every game; every adventure. I remember everything from meeting this lot and all the walking, walking, walking we’ve been doing. But before that I…It’s…” He sat back in the chair, very blue eyes going wider for a moment, “I remember smashing and grabbing and laughing. The others were sometimes with me. We have fun. The fires and the lights and everything going wooosh!” He looked at the others with a slight frown, “there’s so much metal here. Metal and plastic. It’s disgusting. It deserves to be burned.”

“And that is what you were doing?” Prompted Franklin, “Burning it all away? Destroying it?”

Fred smiled, “I think so.”

“And who was you doing this for?”

“I dunno doctor. Maybe Nerthus? She’s the boss lady.”

The reaction in the room was subtle and immediate. Both men were suddenly much more alert.

“Nerthus?” Repeated Nigel, “Tell me, Fred, does she go by any other name or…?”

“Umm…yes,” he answered, as if just realising this himself, “She told me that she was Queen Mab.”

“Why did she do change her name?” asked Lizzy, “what was the point?” Fred smiled at her, his body relaxing (though he hadn’t noticed he’d been beginning to tense.)

“Not sure…let’s see.” He looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep though, but his eyes were as vacant as ever, “I suppose she became a queen…no…no…she already was one,” he began to mutter to himself, frowning as if desperately trying to think. Images of a tall woman sitting on a throne in a cavern.

After a few moments he began again, still frowning and gesticulating more wildly, “she was…erm…angry. You know. With them. For trying to take her throne. Her rights away.”

Now the image changed. He remembered the sun shining in a blue sky and trees all around them. He had been angry and bitter, so bitter…

“Who was?” Franklin asked gently, trying to calm their interviewee down.

“The twins...No…not the twins.” Fred suddenly leaned back and, in a fit of frustration grabbed his hair and let out an angry growl, “I can’t do this!”

Both men stood suddenly, Nigel with his arm out to comfort the Ex-Imaginary Friend, but Lizzy was already at his side.

“It’s ok Fred,” she comforted softly. She knelt down beside his chair as Franklin and Nigel slowly resumed their seats. Lizzy put her hands on Fred’s slowly pulling his fingers free and releasing his hair. He’d gone very red, but slowly opened his eyes back up to look at her. They were very close. As a child, she’d always been amazed by how blue his eyes were. That wonder had not diminished.

Still holding his hands, she led them down to his lap. “It’s ok, I can’t remember details of last week, so it’s not surprising you cannot remember things from long, long ago. It’s must hurt your head.”

Fred, pouting like a child, nodded slowly. She smiled and put her hand in his hair. It was rough and coarse, as if it had never been conditioned, which was probably true. She rubbed at his abused scalp, “It’s ok, just do your best. This Queen Mab, or Nerthus, is your boss? Is she in charge of all the Imaginary Friends?”

He smirked, “She didn’t invent us! No, no, of course not.” He leaned closer to Lizzy, their noses almost brushing, staring into her eyes unabashedly. “She hated the idea of anyone being friends with the children. She was so angry with me, even though the whole thing was a mistake. I did it to annoy her in the end and…well,” he shrugged and grinned boyishly, “it all got a bit out of hand.”

“It always does with you,” she chided softly, a smile on her lips.

“The name of Queen Mab has appeared here and there in British literature,” said Nigel suddenly, breaking the intimacy between the pair. Lizzy leaned away and turned around to look at her father. Franklin was up and searching through one of his leather-bound tomes, evidently no longer taking part in the conversation.

“There’s a rather famous poem about her, and she’s mentioned in Romeo and Juliet.” Nigel looked pointedly at Fred, “It is generally believed that she was a character in British Folklore during the Middle Ages, a remnant of pagan times. She was Queen of the Fairies. You say she was your boss? She was your Queen?”

Fred stared and seemed to shuffle uncomfortably before smiling nervously and giving his most evasive answer yet, “allegiances change quickly on our side.”

“You say she was angry with you.” Lizzy whirled back around, “what had you done to anger her? Was it something to do with children?”

“I…” Fred looked at her again before saying without inflection or emotion, “I was in the forest. A large, green forest in a new place. I was,” he blinked and looked away from Lizzy, curling up in the chair in a defensive pose, “I was very upset and I hated everyone. I didn’t want friends anymore. But then, the girl was crying. I still remember the sobs.” He bowed his head and closed his mind. He remembered the tall trees of grey bark and deep, green leaves. He could climb so high. He would watch the stars. He saw the village nearby. He saw it grow from a simple house, to the little community of huntsmen and milkmaids. There wasn’t much in the way of agriculture, because his forest was too big to be cleared for their fields and farms. But it was ok, the forest bore fruit and mushroom and vegetables, fresh water and meat. The people were fine. The forest was big and dangerous and deep. There were wolves and bears. The children were not supposed to travel in too far but one fateful day a girl did.

She had brown hair and dark blue eyes, not unlike Fred’s. She had freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her eyes were puffy from weeping.

“It was getting dark,” he continued, sitting very still, “and she was frightened. There was a lot of things to be scared of. I don’t know why but I helped. I got her back home. I showed her the way back. That’s what started the whole thing.”

“What whole thing?” she whispered.

Fred opened his eyes, but kept them down. “The villagers began to leave offerings so I got stronger. The children kept coming to find me until in the end, I let one or two of them see me. That’s all it took.”

Where he had left the girl, Agnes had been it, the people began to leave things. Jars of jam, bowls of sugar or milk. He remembered looking down at them in confusion. They were worshipping him, though he had so little to do with them. He wasn’t a god, not really. They had a god, some middle-eastern import he didn’t fully understand. But they were worshipping him the same, asking him to protect those lost in the forest, to stop any attacks from hungry wolves. They had called him the Spirit of the Tree, Protector of the Forest and,

“Elf,” he muttered, “they were the ones that called me an elf. I’d never heard of it before. It’s just a title, something they named me. It doesn’t really mean anything or define me in any way.”

Lizzy let out the breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding. It was so strange seeing Fred like this; like the other times he had shown a bizarre sense of self-awareness and something distinctly adult in the way he spoke, it was shocking and even frightening. It was as if he went from a child to an adult within seconds. It showed that perhaps, somewhere deep down, there was a very old creature within the slim red-head.

“Why did this make Mab angry?” asked Nigel.

“She didn’t want anyone else being worshipped,” answered Fred, clarity in his eyes and emotion back in his voice. To Lizzy’s relief he began to unravel himself back out of the chair, choosing the lounge upon it instead. “It took all the praise away from her.”

Franklin sat down at his table, putting down the book he had been rifling through on an open page.

“Nerthus,” he grinned, looking around the room, “Nerthus is a very old goddess that almost no one remembers. The only written record is by Tacitus the Roman historian. Is that why she reinvented herself as Queen Mab, to get more worshippers?”

“As time changes,” answered Fred, “so they change. They have to, or they die away. She was the goddess of,” unbidden, a memory flashed in his mind of thing priestesses standing naked in a grove. He frowned and blinked.  The others were watching him carefully.

“She was important,” he continued, feeling strange and oddly anxious, “if the people worship you…you get stronger. And when they don’t…you get…weaker.”

“So you became her competition?”

“No, not really.” He sighed again, “I’m not that big or important. But there were lots like me. Lots of us getting attention.”

“Lots of what?” Pushed Nigel, “Other elves?”

Fred frowned. “Maybe?”

Nigel began to tap his foot, becoming frustrated. If only Fred could remember and give a clear answer! Whenever he gave them some information, it only seemed to make the whole situation even more bizarre than it had been before; every vague answer gave birth to more questions.

Sensing this Franklin decided to help out. “Nerthus was a minor god of some of the Germanic people. These people would go on to travel, adopting newer gods. They first worshipped the Vanir and then later the Viking gods we all know. As they inhabited lands such as Britain, they went further, eventually adopting Christianity. Are these the others you speak of Fred?”

Fred looked at Franklin helplessly.

“I’ll give you some names, alright? Ok, tell me when you recognise these names; Thor? Odin? Woden?” Fred blinked and Franklin held back a cheer, “Frejya? Freyr?”

“Yes!” Fred leapt out of the chair, frightening the life out of Nigel and Lizzy. “I remember them! Bastards!” He spat out suddenly. He began to pace in the limited area in front of the chair, “Bastards, the pair of them! They were the twins. They were always playing tricks!”

“You mentioned twins earlier,” added Nigel, “was that who you meant?”

“They’re the only twins I know!” He shouted, “with their shiny teeth and shiny hair and nice smell.” He stopped pacing and folded his arms, a frown on his face. “I remember now. It was all their fault, they got the ball rolling. We were their tools. They used me and them.” He grit his teeth, the old hurt and anger boiling back up within him. Suddenly there was a comforting weight on his side and draped across his shoulders.

Lizzy was leaning into him, her arm stretched across him. She squeezed his shoulder. The anger dissipated for a moment as he stood amazed at how soft she felt.

“Keep calm Fred,” she advised, “who are ‘them’? Other elves?”

He nodded, the faces of all his little comrades flashing before his eyes, “but they weren’t always elves. They were children. Children I helped to steal away.”

The room suddenly became silent and tense.

“You tried to take Natalie when you first saw her,” said Nigel at length.

“And as far as I know every child in the city has gone missing.” Continued Franklin, “Your little girl. Natalie, is the only child I have seen since this disaster first began. Fred, have you and your friends been stealing children?”

Fred stared at them all. He could feel their heart beats racing. He could sense the growing hostility and mistrust. He felt an odd feeling in his gut, a sort of strange twisting feeling.

He shook his head, wishing he could leave the room.

“No. No.” He tried to think, he couldn’t even remember attempting to take Natalie, “I don’t know…”

Franklin made his way around the table, standing beside Nigel. “It’s ok Fred,” he smiled softly, “we won’t judge. But we need to understand what is happening here. I think that maybe we should put you under hypnosis.”

Fred scrunched up his nose, “what’s hyp-no-sis?”

“We have you fall asleep,” chipped in Lizzy, reaching out and holding his hand. He looked at it but didn’t pull away, “then we have you remember things from long, long ago. I have had it done with me before in therapy.”

He looked up at her, “I don’t sleep.”

“Well… well it’s sort of like sleep but not really.” She squeezed his hand, “I think it’s a good idea. We need to protect Natalie. We need to know what has happened to all the children.”

Fred observed her quietly for a moment. He did not like the sound of this at all. For starters, he well knew that if he saw someone unconscious he’d scribble all sorts of rude things on their face and probably take some disturbing photos with them. He did not want that fate to befall him. However, he didn’t think Nigel, Franklin or even Lizzy (to some degree) would do such things to him. But then he was also quite worried about what he would say and what he’d reveal. He didn’t know how many secrets he had stored inside his whizzy little brain. And also, if they could pull stuff out of his head, didn’t that mean they could put stuff in? He thought Lizzy and Nigel were ok, but he was sceptical of doctors and thinking types.

He looked over at Franklin and raised an eyebrow.

Reading Fred’s expression the man blanched and held out his hands placatingly, “Fred you can trust us. Nigel and Lizzy are your friends. I only want to help.” He smiled, “we’re all on the same team.”

Again, Fred slowly looked at Lizzy with wide eyes. She smiled and nodded encouragingly.

Fred frowned in a determined manner and pushed out his chest.

Time to be brave.

“Sure thing,” he stated, “put me in hypo-hypo-hypnolosis-sis Doc”

He smiled triumphantly and Lizzy had the odd urge to give him a kiss right there.

 

 

 

 

 


	28. Hypnosis

Franklin had a colleague who had been a Professor in Psychiatry for some two decades before finally retiring. He lived on campus and was often seen doddering about. He was viewed as eccentric but, as is often the case with eccentricity, wildly intelligent. Before becoming a Professor he had been a psychiatrist, with an emphasis in the school of Freud.

He was a great hypnotherapist.

Nigel and Lizzy had cleared some more space in the tiny office. Fred had offered to help by threatening to fling everything out of the window, but they declined his generosity.

Now they had the table pushed further back, the piles of books pushed to the sides of the room, and three chairs facing towards the one Fred had been reclining in.

As Franklin entered, he sat on the far right, the Professor sat in the middle chair, and Nigel sat on the left. All three men faced Fred. Lizzy sat up on the table, closer to where Fred sat.

Unconsciously he twisted in his chair so that he was slightly closer to her. His leg tapped incessantly and he chewed his fingernails, all whilst watching the men with an untrusting frown.

“All right Mr. Fred,” began the Professor with a voice like dust, “let’s begin your journey into the past, mmm?”

“Just get on with it,” muttered Fred, rude as ever.

“I can see you are worried Mr. Fred, but you needn’t be. Despite the stereotypes I cannot force you to do anything you do not wish, and you are always in full control.”

Fred relaxed a little and gave a curt nod.

“My friend here says you wish to recover some lost memories? Very well, this can be done, but it is difficult. I do not wish to implement any false memories.” Fred froze again, as this had been a fear he’d had. The Professor smiled once more, “do not worry. I’ve done this for a long time. Normally I would speak a little longer, but as time is of the essence and I know you are somewhat groggy,” he gestured to his head, “then I shall begin with the induction.”

“Try to relax Fred,” whispered Lizzy, “I’m here. It’ll be ok.”

He nodded and sat further back in the chair, gripping the arm rests and attempting to still his tapping leg.

“Close your eyes,” instructed the Professor. Fred scowled, but obeyed. “To start I want you to focus on your breathing. Take a deep breath, in, out. In. out.”

He continued, guiding Fred to focus on where his breathing was. From into his chest, to into his stomach. Slowly Fred’s breathing became deeper and deeper.

Lizzy stared in amazement. He was so still. The jittery anxiety and hyperactivity was fading. Unlike before when remembering his past, he was not stiff and up-tight. It was as if he were asleep. She stared at his face. She’d never noticed before but it…he was actually quite nice looking. His face, much like the rest of his body, was slim, defined but also delicate somehow, as if to make up for the vividness of his colouring.

Lizzy felt herself go red and looked away. She tended to fall for guys easily and falling for Fred was, well, a little embarrassing and pretty weird. She didn’t want to think of him as good-looking. He wasn’t even a man. He was her friend and had the mind of a child.

She brushed away her temporary lapse in judgement and began to listen to the Professor once more.

“Now relax. As you breathe in slow and deep, a good, pleasant feeling comes across your body. Your arms are limp. Let the tension flow out of them. Your nerves are relaxing. Your body softening.”

Fred’s arms fell from the arm rests. His head slowly lolled forward. His breathing was still slow and steady. The Professor’s voice fell into a low drone. As he spoke, she even felt herself beginning to relax and her eyes beginning to close.

“You can feel yourself slipping deeper into yourself. Darkness creeps upon you. It stalks you slowly and begins to cover your mind. You can hear your heart beat. You can feel your heart beat. It beats. Beats. Beats. The beat thrums through your body. You can feel the gentle pulse in your neck. The gentle pulse. Slower. Darker. Your breath stays deep and low. In and out. In and out. In and out. Darker and darker. Deeper and deeper. Leaving here and going inside…going back… going back. Deeper and darker…”

He continued on for another ten minutes or so, his voice becoming a deep and low whisper. The atmosphere was one of deep quiet. Everyone had been beginning to relax, but as the Professor stopped, all but Fred slowly felt themselves coming back to attention.

The Professor lifted one of Fred’s arms. He let it go and it dropped heavily.

“We are ready,” he said, “time to begin the therapy.”

Franklin nodded and leaned forward, “Fred, we need you to go back. We need you to go back to when you were taking children away from humans. Why were you doing that?”

Fred’s head lifted slightly. “I am not Fred.”

A pause. Surprise thrummed through the group.

“Who are you?”

“I am Fride.” Fred’s eyes opened. The blue was a shade deeper than normal and completely vacant. He looked down towards his lap, unseeing. “I am Fride. And they tricked me. They needed the worship. But the people were not giving it anymore, so they bullied them. I didn’t know. The Seer punished them. They lost their power.”

“Who are they?”

“The twins, Freyr and Freya, and their Mother, Nerthus. She is the All-Mother.”

Nigel jolted slightly. It made sense! Freya was generally seen as a replacement of Nerthus, another (more successful) reincarnation of the Mother Earth Goddess that Nerthus once was. On discovering that these deities were actually real at one point, it was logical to assume that one actually begot another.

“And where are the children?”

“Depends who took them. The twins take them to Alfheimer. They’re the lucky ones.”

“And the unlucky ones?”

Fred’s face became somewhat distressed, “they go to Nerthus. They become Shades.”

His breathing became harder and more rough as the panic began to set in. Inside, he could see the pale skin of the dead children. He saw their purpling lips, their scalps were the hair grew, the deformed bodies sprouting tentacles of shadow where limbs should be.

He leaned forwards and began to gag. Nigel and Lizzy rushed to surround him, both wrapping their arms around him as Franklin put a small bin in front of Fred. The Professor began to repeat sections of the induction, slowly calming Fred back down.

“All right,” he said, once things had settled a little. Fred was sitting back up, his head still bowed and eyes still glazed. Lizzy and Nigel crouched either side of his chair, both watching with concern.

“Come away from there Fride,” instructed the Professor, “come away. Do not let it haunt you. Come away. Come away. Instead, tell us how they were stopped. How was the thievery of children ended?”

Fred blinked, “I am Fred now,” he said, “my name is Fred. I am older. I am taller.”

Lizzy and Nigel looked up at each other in shock. Fred _aged_?

“There was a meeting,” Fred continued, settling back into his chair. He sounded more alert now, even if his eyes were still blank. He blinked slowly, “There was a meeting and someone finally put their foot down.”

He smiled softly.

xxXXxx

_Mid-Medieval England_

The heavens were awash with soft, chalky pastels of blue and pink, stretching down to the glowing, golden sun that dropped slowly behind the forest horizon. The forest canopy was rich and thick with emerald green foliage. Red berries and bright apples hung upon the powerful boughs of these ancient trees. On the forest floor Deer roamed, grazing gently at the nibbles of hardy, southern grass. Their bodies were thick and glossy.

It was midsummer’s eve. Fred, dressed in all green and sitting high on a tree branch watched the village down below. The hamlet was very small and was situated near a vast lake which supplied the inhabitants with most of their food during the winter when the forest no longer bore fruit. As the sun set, the people were lighting lanterns. There was music and women singing softly. The children in particular was excitable.

Fred was aware of time now. He had seen children grow old and die. He watched their children, and their children’s children go through the same process. Faces and names and personalities he had known so well became faded. He had been in this forest for as long as he could remember. He spent his energies on keeping it and the people relatively safe and happy. He wasn’t even sure how he could do most of the things he did, he did not remember being taught, but he did it all anyway.

A procession of lights travelled through the village. The people, carrying lanterns, bought food and drink to where their village ended and the thick, heavy forest began. They arranged them prettily on large leaves and moss. Between the offerings of food, a rosary and a number of twigs arranged into the fashion of the crucifix were placed carefully. Church candles were lit and the Priest sang out a prayer in rich Latin verse. They stayed a while afterwards, all whispering their prayers and thanks and wishes.

As they walked away, Fred saw the children all looking back curiously, wanting a glimpse of the Forest Elf.

Dark blue eyes blinked. He was taller now, his line of sight no longer was on par to the younger children, he needed to bend down to look at them closely. Which was something he rarely did. He generally stayed away from the villagers, but he watched them often. Almost as much as he watched the animals of the forest.

He swung down from the tree, just as the villagers were disappearing into their humble homes. He heard the squeals of excited babes who had seen his shadowy image dropping down to where the offerings lay. He smiled softly. He liked children. He liked them naughty and silly. That was them at their best. It gave him a dim reminder of something…something from his past. What specifically he did not know, but the it was there and the nostalgia was strong.

He sat cross legged and munched on some of the food. As he did he felt his core brightening. His body tingled and the warm, green glow began to irradiate from within, lightening his skin and hair. The people said he was a member of the fair folk, and he guessed that was true, though he had never met anyone like himself before. He was the only one of his kind.

Fred didn’t eat much, but he lapped up the bowl of milk and wrapped everything up. He climbed back up into the canopy and travelled along higher, wooden paths made of branches until he got to his favourite tree. It was an old Beech tree right in the centre of the forest. It was ancient; the first tree to appear in this place. The others had spouted up around it, going on and on and on until this huge forest was the Beech Tree’s legacy.

As Fred put the food in a hole in the tree, he heard music striking up in the village. It was light and airy. No doubt they’d all be dancing. The children would be allowed to stay up late. It was a good evening for it. The celebration of Midsummer was always fun. There was a delay in sunset, prolonging the evening time. Fireflies and moths were beginning to buzz about the forest, adding to the melody.

He sat on a branch and listened to the music, going deeper and focusing until he could hear the smaller things; the forest rabbits shuffling about for grass, going nearer to their burrows as night set in; the birds evening-song as the owls began to blearily open their eyes and shake out their feathers; the susurration of the warm breeze billowing through the trees and grass.

This was his home.

This was England.

The northern star peeked out of the night sky first, before her friends began to join her, twinkling and winking in the black canvas that stretched across the heavens. The laughter and music of the village grew a little more raucous as the ale began to do its work on the inhabitants. It was all good fun; everyone would just have a headache tomorrow.

Fred smirked, emitting out low levels of goodwill and contentment which would keep the animals of the forest calm. He protected the people of the forest by keeping the wilder animals far from the village and its inhabitants. He focused on making sure there was nothing but positive energy, they’d be no fights, no animal attacks, no upset. Just joyous celebration. It was only fair, as it seems their offerings were only making him stronger.

His light slumber was disturbed when he heard the rustle of wings and a soft landing beside him. He looked down and saw a raven at his side. He raised an eyebrow, the ravens were messengers of death. They told him if a child had died and was having trouble getting to the afterlife. He couldn’t take them all the way, but he could take them to The Cave at least. He never went in himself.

_Your presence has been requested._

“My presence?” he asked, almost laughing at the officiousness of it all, “requested by who?”

_An important Man._

“I don’t know any important man,” sighed Fred, looking away, “I don’t really know anybody. The only people I know go away in time.”

_He knows you. It’s imperative that we go now._

He shuffled on the branch, leaning closer to the tree trunk. He was nervous, never before had he been asked to interact with someone. And what kind of man could speak to Ravens, or send them to do his bidding?

“This man, is he like me?”

The Raven cocked its head, looking at Fred from the side with a beady black eye.

_No one is like you. Follow me now._

The Raven opened its wings and swooped away. Fred jumped from the branch all the way down to the forest floor. It was night, but fireflies lit up the forest. He could see the Raven flying slowly and low through the trees. He followed it, running sprightly in a way only a wild creature could.

A river, which fed in and then back out of the lake the humans used, ran a steady path through the forest. The Raven led Fred down south, deeper and deeper into the woods. The floor became damp and marshy. The smell of various summer plants mingled with over-ripe fruit that softly decomposed on the floor. The breeze of fresh, warm air could not be felt here. Eventually they made their way out to where the river, quite broad here, drifted slowly.

_You need to go into it._

Fred looked at the river. Water was a sacred thing. He could sense the Otherworld lurking just below.

“What happens if I don’t do what this man says?” demanded Fred, sounding annoyed and petulant. He crossed his arms. “I don’t know who he is. Who says I have to obey? I never obey anyone!”

_You must go. Even you know this._

Fred looked into the water again, his bravado sinking away. Yes, he could feel the pull. He had felt strange all evening but passed it off as it being midsummer and a holy time. But perhaps it was really this all along.

“Alright I’ll go.” He grumbled, stepping into the river. Any human as slight as Fred would have been knocked down by the current, but with unnatural and unassuming strength he cut through the water easily until he reached the centre of the river. The water reached his shoulders here and was very cold, but as Fred always ran a little hotter than a normal person, he did not feel it.

Slowly he bent his legs, bringing his body further under water. He sank beneath the flow, his legs crossing as he allowed himself to sit on the riverbed. He stopped breathing and felt himself drifting into death…

Blue eyes opened. He was in a desolate place. Long stretches of land with green-grey coarse grass that grew long and wild. The sky was metal grey. Behind him was a stony path that led up to a deep cave on a hill. He knew that was death. It was here that he would lead the dead souls of children too afraid to go alone. He had seen souls left wandering on Earth, and it was a sad thing. It was a kindness to bring the children here.

He never went in the cave himself though. He often wondered if their god was inside waiting for them; a melancholy man with kind eyes bleeding on a cross. It was a strange god, but Fred accepted it. There had been stranger ones in the past.

The was a loud ‘ _caw-caw’_ and a shadow shot past Fred’s shoulder. It was a large Crow.

“Are you my new Guide?” he called after it. The Crow flew in a circle a few times for an answer, before flying away in the direction opposite to the Cave. Fred followed it.

They came to a place in the wasteland where two trees grew so close that it would seem at first glance that they had once been one tree that had somehow torn themselves in two.

“They’re called the Twins,” said a voice.

Fred turned to see a friendly man smiling. He had brown skin and black curly hair.

Fred smiled warmly.

“I’m Fred.”

“I don’t have a name!” said the man happily, “but the people called me Eshu!”

“Hi Eshu!” Fred grinned happily and then shook Eshu’s hand. Eshu seemed a bit confused by the gesture but smiled all the same. Fred was happy at making his new friend. The man, Eshu, was smaller and seemed younger than he was, but that was just fine as all of Fred’s friends were younger than him.

“Were you sent here also?” Eshu asked.

Fred nodded, just as there was a loud call above them. The men looked up and gaped. In the sky were giant Eagle-like birds. Ones by one they began to land on the soft earth with loud thumping sounds. The men huddled closely together. The birds looked vicious, with sharp yellow eyes and large talons.

One of the birds saw the trees and let out a scream.   Then it’s head began to de-feather and hair and white skin sprouted up in their place. Soon, there was a female human head on the bird’s body. Fred’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“Heresy!!” she screamed, “heresy! It is the bastard twins that bring us here.”

“The Mistress will hear of this!” cried another bird, this time with the torso and head of a woman. Seeing her topless, both Eshu and Fred began to giggle hysterically.

This bought attention onto them.

“You!” cried another creature, “ELVES! You all still live? Heresy!”

“What’s heresy?” whispered Eshu.

“No idea. What’s an elf?”

“Not sure.”

Now all around more creatures were appearing, they were all very different. Trolls dragged themselves from out of the Earth, grunting and moaning as they did. From the crags of rocks Dwarves began to appear, grubby from hours of mining. Beautiful men and women with the tails of foxes and wolves came from behind the hill, their skin glistening and wet so Fred assumed they’d come the same way he had. The Beautiful ones smirked at Fred and Eshu gawping at them. From all directions were various young humanoids, they all could run very fast and were quite sweet looking. Fred looked at them and felt an odd kinship with them, but stayed by Eshu’s side. Many of these were looking and smiling at one another, so he knew it was a shared feeling. Were they the same as him? The Raven said none were like him, but maybe the Raven had gotten it wrong?

By the time hundreds of creatures had arrived, the sky turned an angry black as clouds rolled in. Lightening began to strike, but without the following sound of thunder and without the downfall of rain. A shard of lightening hit the direct centre of the two Trees;

Once!

Twice!

Thrice!

On the third strike a figure had appeared. It looked like a Druid, only his outer garments were black.

He took down his hood. Around his head was a crown of mistletoe. He carried a twisted and gnarled staff made of very old oak. His skin was a light brown and his eyes were hazel and burning.

“Hear me!” He called out, his voice clear, “The world is changing. A new dawn is entering. You are the last of your kind. Before the end of the century, there will be even less of you. However, death and extinction may be avoided if you decide to choose your fate. The time of the Old Gods has passed. Their gluttony, cruelty and disorganisation has ruined them.”

“Heresy!” Fred could hear the bird-women shrieking, “heresy!”

“Accuse me not foul beasts!” bellowed the man in such a way that all the creatures quivered and backed away from him, “I am The Seer! I am higher than your false gods! I, like Time and Space and the Universe, will continue on even after their demise. Their time is over.  They squandered their time here. Every god dies eventually; all lose their crown. If you side with them, you will die alongside them.

“Those who side with The Fairy Queen Mab and those who side with the Vanir Fertility Twins Freyr and Freyja, stand before me. But those who wish to make their own way in this world, stand behind me and the twins,” he gestured at the trees which he stood between.

The creatures began to look at one another, steady uneasy murmuring through the ranks. Fred could hear whispers of ‘treachery’ and ‘punishment.’

The names that the Seer had called out sounded familiar. He knew Mab. He had told the first person he’d met on Middle-Earth that she had been the one who had sent him. He couldn’t remember anything before that first meeting; it was all a haze of anger and bitterness that he decided not to look too deeply into. The names of Freyr and Freyja jolted something inside of him, a sort of unpleasant pulling of the intestines; part nostalgia, part fear.

He looked around, no one had moved yet. He frowned. Change was always a good thing. For as long as he could remember he had been living in that one tree in that one forest, watching a small group of Anglo-Saxons living and dying over and over, like the seasons. He couldn’t stand it anymore. He needed and craved something new.

“I’m joining the Seer,” he said to Eshu, determined.

Eshu grinned, “good. Me too. I just want to annoy those birds! That and to see how the twins react.”

“The Twins?” he looked over at the trees.

Eshu laughed, “come on, let’s go.”

The joined a group of creatures slowly moving behind the Seer. Fred looked up as they passed the Man. He looked down at them with burning eyes, catching Fred’s own. Fred looked away, feeling unnerved.

“Who are the twins, if you did not mean the trees?” he asked Eshu.

A hushed quiet had come over the land as everyone began to choose where they were going to stand. The air was electric. Something was going to happen; there would be consequences to all this.

“The Twins are the Fairy Queen’s two children. You smell of them,” Eshu answered, his nose wrinkling, “you’re from Alfheimer.”

“I am?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t remember.”

Eshu laughed, “you guys are known for your bad memories. It isn’t your fault. You weren’t made to remember so much. You weren’t made for this at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shh!” Eshu pointed up at the top of a distant hill facing them, “look!”

The wind had picked up and there was a smattering of cold rain water. It was like a prelude to King Lear’s storm.

On the hill stood several figures, including two very golden people each sitting upon white Shetland ponies. They began to travel down the hill. The couple were a man and woman, slightly taller than most humans, and surrounded by a bright aura. The woman had large hips and breasts. Both she and the man had long blond hair, blue eyes, and full sensual lips.

The smelt of spring rains, of flowers and of newborn babes. “Fertility gods,” breathed Fred, his mind suddenly flashing back to the first settlers of the small village. They’d worshipped these gods for good harvest, good marriage beds and for healthy babies. “I _know_ these people.”

“Of course you do,” said Eshu with a secret smile.

Fred picked up something sly in Eshu’s tone. He pulled his gaze away from the twins for a moment to look at his friend and ask, “what are you?”

Eshu shrugged, “just a trickster from the sunny lands.”

“Are you a god?”

“None of us are gods anymore Fred.” Eshu looked up at the twins who now entered the circle of Fantasy Creatures and stood before the Seer, “and I think they know that as well.”

“Great Seer,” the golden haired man called out, “I am Freyr and this is my sister Freya. We thank you for summoning us and giving us the opportunity to speak for ourselves. We offer you and the others no ill will. We’re here to defend our creations and to perhaps encourage you to let us carve out new lives in this new world.”

“Your creations?” The Seer repeated with a sneer in his voice, “you mean the remnants of what souls remain in the human babes you stole?”

“We were kind to them,” the woman, Freya, answered immediately as if they’d known the Seer would challenge them so, “that’s more than what our contemporaries did.”

“Contemporary?” a cold voice spoke out, seemingly echoing from all sides. Everyone began to look about in wonder, apart from the twins who suddenly looked pensive and the Seer who stayed as emotionless as before. Fred felt his insides grow cold and a sense of dread fell over him. He found himself starting to shake as the voice continued.

“Is that what I am to you now, a mere contemporary? How laughable, you ungrateful little swine.” The sky was very dark as the grey clouds turned black and stormy.

“Fred?” whispered Eshu, noting how distressed his friend looked, “are you all right?”

Fred shook his head, feeling like he was going to be sick. Eshu gripped Fred’s hand tightly in his own.

The earth, just beneath the grassy hill, began to break apart, tearing open as cold, blue-hued bodies of pale dead children scrambled out, their bodies moving like puppets. A number of the fantasy creatures recoiled in horror. There was a buzzing sound and blue orbs flew out of the ground. They whizzed around the creatures, biting and pinching.

Fred grabbed one and flung it to the ground before stamping on it.  The little orbs avoided him after that.

Before the crowd could even get over this assault, the gap in the earth grew further as a petite woman with ice-white hair pulled into thick, beaded braids and black insectoid wings flew out of the hole and landed daintily on the moor land.

“My,” sneered the blonde girl, “how small you have grown mother!”

“You are not quite as tall or as radiant as I remember either,” the woman hissed, her voice like ice. The blond twins scowled.

“Queen Mab,” called the Seer, “Queen of the Fairies. I welcome you. For this new world order pertains to you as well.”

“New world order,” she repeated disdainfully, “new world order! I recognise no such thing!”

“The Eastern gods are here to stay,” sighed Freyr, bored already, “we will include ourselves where possible and make do.”

“They like our culture,” continued Freya cheerfully, “and so we will live on. It may be nice to take a step back, it has been a long, long time. But,” she turned to the Seer, “this is why we ask about our elves. We want them to continue also, but their powers are so low. They are still so human.”

“You dare ignore me!” Queen Mab shot out sparks of blue, her wand in her hand. It was a long crooked thing, with carving etched into it of bulls and wagons. “If not a goddess I am still a Queen and I obey no one, not even the Seer!”

Blue lightning bolts shot out from her and into the turbulent sky, creating an electric storm. Static and barely contained panic filled the air. The creatures all backed away, except for the Bird-women who shrieked in the air, hiding behind the Seer who still stood strong between the twin trees.

The twin gods, or former gods, dismounted their ponies and stood before their mother.

The time had come.

“We never should have let you live so long,” said Freyr.

“I should have eaten you both when you were newborn,” Mab hit back, “I never wanted children!”

“Then why did you have them then?” cried Freya, before flying towards her mother without letting her answer.

 

 Mab raised up her hands to the sky, the lightening began to spin unnaturally curving into a ball, before hurtling towards the earth and hitting Freya. The Fertility Goddess fell back with a shriek. Freyr, her brother, was immediately at her side.

“You villainous bitch!” he spat at his mother, who laughed in return.

“Enough of this,” bellowed the Seer, “The world is weary of your tricks and games and cruelty. It is finished now.”

“Never!” screamed Mab, flying towards the Seer with a shocking amount of speed.

He calmly raised his staff and cracked it against the Earth.

The twin trees suddenly began to move, writhing as if alive. They shot out their branches and grabbed Mab. He stepped out from beneath them, the rest of the creatures surrounding them backing away anxiously.

Mab struggled, but only became increasingly tangled in the hard branches. Then the trees began to sink into the ground.

Fred looked away, the sight of such a thing binging up some sort of horrible feeling, like a memory lost, within him.

He could hear her screams, first in rage but then evolving into real terror. He could hear the bubbling and squelching of wet mud, that she was being sunk into a muddy, watery grave. He shuddered and covered his ears.

Eventually, all became silent; the storm was gone and the sky had returned to a uniform grey. Even the bird-women in the air were quiet; shocked by the disappearance of their goddess.

Fred opened his eyes and looked back at the scene. Where the two trees had been was now a small mound. In front of it were the twin gods, both looking shocked and quite frightened. Behind them were the Shades, each one sinking into the ground, becoming a shadow.

“You will go to your mother’s realm,” said the Seer to the twins, “and you will remain there, unable to leave. You will not return to Alfheimer for you do not deserve it.”

The twins teared up and looked horrified, but said nothing.

“That is the price for fighting at my meeting and for the thievery of innocent human souls for your own benefit,” he continued. The twins looked down, defeated, but said nothing. “I will honour the request you made on behalf of your…elves.”

Eshu suddenly took hold of Fred’s hand. Fred looked at him perplexed, but Eshu smiled. “You do not remember me,” Eshu said, “but you and I are similar. We started with them,” he gestured to the twins. “Come on, we need to join the others.”

He began to walk to the twins, and Fred followed. He felt confused, what was happening?

The pair joined the group of green clad elves who had travelled down the hill with the twin gods. From out of the huge semi-circle of creatures more and more individuals, all humanoid, joined the group. Eventually around a hundred people stood, all human-looking and all quite young. Some were even children.

“You have a choice,” the Seer addressed them directly, “to become Light Elves, the ones who protect humanity, or Dark elves who will live in the shadows with their gods. Choose now.”

Fred gulped and looked at the twins. They were defeated and low. Their glow was gone and their skin seemed very human and slightly dirty. Their hair, still long and golden, no longer shone, but was the colour of straw and hung lankly. They were holding hands, finding solace in one another. He felt bad for them, but hated the idea of living down in a cold, dark hell with them. Besides, he had his village and his forest.

Fred had made his decision.

 Feeling a strange sensation, he found himself looking directly at the Seer, who, frighteningly, was looking straight back at him.

“There was a curse put upon you,” the Seers voice resonated quietly in his mind, “a curse from Nerthus. You will wonder the human realm and Alfheimer, never truly belonging to either. You will connected to the line of your sister. That is your pain. It will act as punishment for your hand in the theft of children.”

Fred felt his mind crack slightly as he was suddenly flung back to Midgar, home of the humans.


	29. Talks

Darkness had fallen over the land.

The university began to board up all the windows. The monsters of the night were much worse than anything prowling about in the day time. The elves drank their weight in milk and ate enough sugar to make any human ill, before splitting up and running into the night trying to find a forest or a river to call their own. The Shades of Nerthus crawled out of the shadows and began to limp around the city, sniffing out any remaining children.

They knew that they hadn’t collected every childs’ soul yet, but where were they all hiding?

Inside the university, people began to slowly make their way to bed. Those who were not yet ready to be alone sat in the canteen, listening to music when some blessed musicians took out their instruments and began to play some low, pleasant tunes.

When Fred opened dark blue eyes he found deep brown ones staring back into his.

Lizzy took in Fred’s face. It looked older somehow, less animated, the eyes duller.

She leaned out and brushed his hair from his face, his forehead was hot, but she couldn’t tell if that was due to his usual heightened heat or the beginning of illness. Fred simply blinked in response.

There was a quiet sigh, and the humans settled slightly.

The session had been exciting, but everyone was now exhausted.

 “Can you go back in again?” Nigel was asking Franklin, “get more information from a later time perhaps?”

Lizzy could feel Fred sitting in the chair beside her, taut and vibrating with stress like a violin string.

“I think Fred needs a break,” she said, standing up and taking her friend’s hand. In her peripheral vision, she saw Fred looking up at her quickly with wide eyes. “Give us some time.”

“He doesn’t get tired,” began Nigel, “I’m sure he’ll be fine honey.”

“No,” she insisted, feeling frustrated. She noted the surprise in her father’s face but continued, “he needs a break! And you know what? so do we. I’m taking him away for the night, you guys can talk it over and get back to us if you absolutely need to use him again or if you have a plan. If not, let’s pick this back up tomorrow morning.”

Fred stood and followed her out. She walked through the narrow hallways and out into the main foyer, remembering the path David had taken them down.

“Check you out,” she heard Fred smirking, though he sounded tired and raw, “wearing your ovaries on the outside! I like it!”

She stopped abruptly and turned to face him. He was paler than usual and the smile was strained.

“Are you ok Fred?”

He shrugged, “of course…”

She frowned, putting her hand up and softly touching the side of his face in concern. Something happened then, a sort of darkness went into his eyes and Lizzy felt the sorrow and anger rising in her again.

“Hey guys.”

Lizzy removed her hand and turned to see Annabella watching them. She was cleaner, scrubbed down, and her hair pulled back. She still looked stunning.

“David showed me where our rooms are,” she said, “we have to share, due to lack of space, but…” she trailed off and shrugged instead.

“That’s fine,” Lizzy answered, “Fred needs to sit down, we went through a lot earlier.”

Annabella looked passed Lizzy and smiled at Fred, “you look tired buddy.”

Fred walked over to her and the pair held hands, “I’m never tired. I hate going to bed.”

Annabella and Lizzy allowed themselves a chuckle as Lizzy took his other hand and together the three of them walked towards the dormitories.

xxXXxx

Lizzy, Annabella and Janey were all being put in the one little bedroom. It had two single beds and one sleeping bag on the floor.

“Where’s Janey?” asked Lizzy, looking about the small quarters.

“Still with Micky,” said Annabella, watching Fred cautiously. They sat him down on a bed and Lizzy but a blanket around his shoulders.

He looked up at her, “I don’t sleep.”

“I know,” she smiled softly, sadly, “but you need rest. Just stay still for a while, ok?”

He nodded, oddly compliant, “Ok. Can I…” he stopped, as if embarrassed or uncertain. Lizzy dropped to her knees before him.

“Anything Fred, what is it?”

“I want to… be on my own…for bit?” He shrugged, as if confused by the emotion.

“That’s fine,” she let out a breathy laugh, trying to comfort him, “it’s ok to feel that way. You’re over-whelmed. That’s all. I’ll be outside with Annabella, ok?”

He nodded again, looking more relaxed.

The women stepped outside the door and shut it, seeing him sitting on the bed perfectly still and just staring at the wall.

As soon as they were in the quiet hallway, Annabella said, “Jesus Christ, what happened?”

Lizzy sighed heavily and brushed her hands over her face and up into her hair. “It was crazy Annabella, like, nothing I could have guessed. I mean, he’s been babbling all this time about, gods and magic and stuff but…” she sighed, “it’s all very real and very gothic and Jesus, Anna, it’s dangerous! Like, these creatures are psychotic.”

“Hey, hey,” Annabella soothed, pulling her into a hug, “it’s ok. Please, tell me everything, ok?”

“Ok.”

They sat in the hallway. The storm from earlier had put a chill in the air and outside the wind blew hard and vicious. The sky was black but clear. The silhouette of a witch passed by the moon but they didn’t notice it. The women sat side by side as Lizzy began to recount Fred’s experience. She didn’t have all the details of his emotions, but she knew that there had been times when he had been terrified. She could tell that, even beneath this strange story there were even more layers of trauma and horror.

“So, he stole children?” asked Annabella at the end, “or, well, was part of it?”

“Yeah…”

“So, has he been the one stealing the children this time, or was it one of the others?”

“I’m not sure, I suppose.” Lizzy glanced at Annabella nervously, “you…you saw three kids get stolen, right? What exactly did you see?”

Annabella shuddered and withheld a gag, “it was gross. They were likes shadows, coming out in long tentacles. One dragged the baby into the cot I-” she put her head in her hands, drawing up her knees, “it was horrific. I couldn’t do anything! And I’d been such a bitch beforehand. Why am I like that? It’s like I never got over being some pissed off teenager. It’s pathetic.”

Lizzy thinned her lips, unsure of what to say, but put her arm around Annabella’s shoulders. “It’s ok, we’ll try and get them back. You can make up for it.”

“Maybe,” said Annabella, “but that wouldn’t have been Fred would it?”

“No, Fred more wild and out of control. He isn’t scary. He would have popped up and lured them away with games.” She glanced up at the door, “we can ask him, but not now, I really want him to rest.”

To Lizzy’s surpise Annabella nodded, “I get that, but you should know Janey and Mickey aren’t too convinced by him. Today helped but,” she shrugged, “I think they don’t know what to make of him.”

Lizzy nodded, understanding the point but feeling frustrated none the less; she’d always insisted that Fred was difficult to control but benevolent, so why were they finding him so hard to accept?

Annabella was back thinking on the missing trio, “so if not Fred, it must have been one of the others. Mab, you said she was called? She stole children and turned them into shadows…”

 “Shades,” corrected Lizzy quietly, her mind going elsewhere.

“Shades,” she shuddered, “right. Fred told us about those didn’t he?”

“Isn’t that what my mother said?” asked Lizzy instead, turning to Annabella. The term ‘mother’ left a slight lump in her throat, but she ignored it. “Mother said her sister had turned into a Shade. Sarah. Her sister had been called Sarah.”

“Did you know your aunt?”

“I didn’t even know she existed. Mother told me right before…” Lizzy’s eyes watered slightly.

“And so she must have died when she was a child,” continued Annabella, realisation in her tone instead of sympathy, “Nerthus, or Mab, or whatever, only takes kids. So how long has all this been going on?”

“Years,” Lizzy breathed out, she looked at Annabella, “they need praise and attention to become powerful. So what if she’s been stealing children slowly over the years until she became strong enough-”

“to unleash all this hell on us,” finished Annabella, her eyes as wide as Lizzy’s, “it makes sense! Christ, we’re screwed!”

“Not necessarily,” Lizzy began to calm herself, thinking furiously, “we know her kids- the twins- hate her. We know the Seer is stronger than she is. If he locked her up before he can do it again.”

“Right, but last time she ruled for thousands of years before he did anything, so this time we need to make him intervene sooner. What did Fred say about the Seer?”

“Nothing, other than he was intimidating and is apparently psychic.”

“Right…he told Fred he was cursed,” her voice became quiet and she glanced at the dorm room door, “what do you think that was all about?”

“I don’t know,” whispered Lizzy, “he never seemed cursed or unhappy when I knew him as a kid but…but there is something wrong with the whole thing.” She let out another sigh, “we can’t deal with that now. We just have to focus on getting the children back and stopping Nerthus from destroying the world.”

“Agreed, and as the other elves seem pretty freaking insane, we only have one option to get information.”

Both women looked back at the dormitory door.

xxXXx

Inside the dorm, Fred sat quietly looking out the window. The city lay in ruins; the streetlights were broken and the only light came from the moon and burning cars. Fred knew that his kin had probably been the most to blame for the destruction. What he said to Franklin was true; the plastic and metal and fakery enraged them. They felt this bizarre burning need to ruin things, to be the agents of chaos and destroy; like eternal naughty children.

Just the sort of behaviour and personality that amused the twins for so many centuries.

Fred blinked, raising his hand and looking at it. Who _was_ he?

Before, everything had been so simple. He was the Imaginary Friend. He helped Nit-Head. He liked fun. That was it. But now…now there were questions and confusions and memories and…

And feelings…

He wrapped his arms around his stomach. Everything hurt, but especially his tummy. Maybe this is how Nit-Head had felt that time she’d eaten too much ice-cream. He had a lot more sympathy for her now, knowing what the pain was like.

He slumped onto the bed, lying on his side and curling into a foetal position. _“Please go away,”_ he thought, not sure what he was trying to get rid of, _“please, please go away. Leave me alone.”_

Thoughts buzzed in his head like bees; scattered fragments of memories lost.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to focus, tried to remember. It was so hard, but he needed to know who or what he was. Terms like ‘elf’ meant nothing, it was just a word humans used to describe him. It didn’t tell him what he was or why he was here. Had he been born?

Fred’s eyes opened, him frowning at the thought. Had he had a family? Parents? If so, where were they? And if not, where did he come from?

When the twins had come to the Seer, they’d said they wanted to protect their elves, and then Eshu had bought him into that group. That’s why Fred called himself an Elf, it’s where he got it from. If he was put in the group of elves then he too must be an elf.

 _“Could I trust him though?”_ he suddenly wondered, _“he said he was a Trickster. And he had first claimed to not know what an elf was, but he knew a lot about me.”_ Fred sat up on the bed again, the idea of distrust being a vaguely new but unpleasant feeling. Distrusting adults was one thing, but distrusting a friend was something else. And he and Eshu were friends because they had been nice to each other. That was friendship, wasn’t it?

But the Seer had said something else too, he had said they were the ‘remnant souls’ of the stolen human babes. So if Fred was an elf then was he too a ‘remnant soul’? What did that mean? Was he…human? The soul of a human?

He let out a breath, feeling shaken. He bought his hand to his face and felt tears on his cheek. How embarrassing, he was actually crying! He looked down at the clear drops of water on the palm of his hand. He sniffed, realising how upset he was.

 _They tricked us_ , a part of his mind kept saying, _that bitch tricked me. She tricked me!_

He remembered being smaller than he was now, standing on a hill and looking out at the land. It was desolate and empty. He remembered the feelings of devastation. Of anger. Of terror.

He remembered the eyes of the one he loved, a girl with black hair and big blue eyes. He remembered the weeping woman who cried to the gods for forgiveness in front of the hearth of a fire.

He remembered the _clack clack clack_ of the Priestesses. He remembered the drums of his village. He saw a vision of the boy he’d been messing around with. He saw his mother and his sister with crowns of flowers on their heads.

Fred slumped down onto the floor. He gripped the wooden frame of the bed so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fell back…back…back into the past.

Back to Svartlfarheimer.

Nerthus had stood there, smaller now than what she had once been but not yet as small as she would become as Queen Mab.

 _"You were a boy,"_ she had told him when he demanded answers, _"and you had a home on Middle Realm. I took you because of your insolence and because you were offered up to me. I said that you could return one day. You missed your sister most of all."_

He could see her now; little Aenor, with such wide eyes and how he had feared so much for her.

_"Yes. I swore that I would allow you back home when you became an adult, and that you would never be apart from your family."_

Fred remembered how he had cried and pleaded to go home until she opened a portal and let him through back to Midgard.

A young, barely teenaged Fride had found himself standing on a hill. He recognized the land, it had once been his home, occupied by his tribe. But now it was just an empty field of little hills and bumps. There was not even signs of human life; no remains of a fire or little traps left for animals.

Where were his tribe? Where were his family? Had they moved? Had the Romans gotten them?

He remembered that it must have been a long time, perhaps even years! He had felt a strange tugging in his stomach. It was as if something was telling him to move.

Fred looked around, trying to understand. All around him it was quiet and empty.

At last he closed his eyes and found himself Fading.

When he opened his eyes in the new place, he was now in the small village surrounded by a large forest. Instead of living in mounds, they lived in small wooden houses with useless thatched roofs that looked like they often caved in. It smelt strongly of animals and dirt. The people wore strange clothing and spoke almost a different language to his one altogether. It was a curious mix of his tribe’s tongue and some new words and phrases thrown in.

There were only twenty people in this village, many of whom looked alike. He tried talking to them, but no one seemed to know he was there. They sensed him, turning around when he called them or tugged at their clothes, but then all would blink or frown in confusion, looking straight through him. It was as if he were a wind or a ghost.

None of the villagers were Aenor. The sun low in the purple sky, he had sat desolately on a stump of an alder tree until he saw a graveyard up ahead on a hill. A cold wind blew, but he didn’t really feel it. Fred felt completely desolate. Where were his family?

The strange tugging sensation began to play up again.

He faded out, hope in his heart that he’d find his family at last, but instead he found himself on the outskirts of the village. Specifically, he was standing in their graveyard. A few stone memorials stood out of the earth like teeth. He was in one particular plot. In front of him lay a grave saying, **Agnes Crone.**

He put out his hand and brushed his fingers against the cold stone. Agnes? Who was that? He suppressed a shiver as another cold wintery wind blew passed him.

A rude caw made him look up. There were more Alder trees growing around the graveyard, and one whose branches stretched over the grave of Agnes. In this tree were three Ravens and a number of crows. Fred ignored the crows, because they were useless at helping people but instead called out to the Ravens.

“Excuse me,” he began, “but who exactly was this lady? Do you know?”

The birds sat quietly contemplating him for a moment before one of them flew down in lazy circles before landing on the gravestone.

**_Who sent you, Creature?_ **

“Queen Mab,” he answered immediately.

 ** _Ah_** , said the Raven, _**Queen of the Fey? That must mean you are one of the fairies too. An elf, I suppose, by your attire and lack of culture.**_

Fride let out a frustrated sigh. “Who is this lady? Do you know?”

**_You are drawn to her? How strange. She was a normal mortal who lived an unremarkable life. Her great, great, great grandson lives in this village as the baker. Though his family have long lived in this village, he still has the old superstitions against him. The Crones will always suffer it._ **

“The Crones? Why?”

**_Underneath this grave are older ones. Ones of her mother and her father. Back to the first Crone, the one who came to this land as a Saxon._ **

Fride frowned, worry beginning to gnaw at his gut. The story kept going back further in time. He gulped, “the first Crone, was it a lady?”

**_A girl._ **

“And her name?”

**_Aenor_ ** _._

Fride let go of the gravestone and stumbled away. His hands clasped over his mouth as he tried desperately not to be sick.

**_She became a crone,_ ** **the Raven continued, _the village believed her to be a witch. Outcast because she bore a child with no father to its name and no husband to hers. She was said to be seen looking for her long-dead brother and believed in strange things. She was said to have spoken with the Creatures of the Otherworld. She was a witch. She was the Crone. And so they all suffer. She died old and mad. So will they._**

“Shut up!” shouted Fride suddenly, bitter tears in his eyes blinding him, “you’re lying! This is a trick!”

 **Ravens are not tricksters, that’s what you elves are,** said the Raven rather snootily.

 _“I’m leaving here,”_ thought Fride, _“I’m going to find Aenor and never, ever return! This isn’t my home and these aren’t my people.”_

He began to fade, only when he opened his eyes he had only gone to the end of the forest. He tried again and again, but could not leave the vicinity of the forest and its village. What was happening?

Fride was breathing fast, on the verge of panicking, so he forced himself to calm down. He marched up and down, threw a few things around and generally tantrumed until he was slightly tired by it all. Sitting down with crossed legs he leaned on one hand and thought about it.

Nerthus had said he would never be apart from his family.

If the Raven had told the truth, then his family, or what descendants there were, lived here. Therefore, he lived here. He couldn’t leave.

Fride felt his bottom lip shaking. His mama was dead. His sister was dead. They’d tricked him. They’d said he could go home knowing that his real home would be long gone. The villagers couldn’t even see him.

He looked at his hands. Was he dead?

Sitting in the dorm bedroom, Fred looked down at his hands. He felt his stomach churning. He was dead. Dead Fred.

His family were dead too.

That was his curse. To be in this half place. To never belong anywhere. To never remember and to always be forgotten. The children, his wards, all distant descendants of his sister, never remembered him. Well, all except…

Fred lifted his head and looked at the door, knowing just outside sat Lizzy.

xxXXxx

 

There was a polite knock on the door before it opened and Lizzy’s dark head popped in.

“Hey Fred, how’re you feeling?”

Fred opened his mouth, then shut it again. He had no idea what to say. Lizzy seemed to get it anyway, she grimaced and said, “that good huh?” before sitting beside him and putting her arm around his shoulders. He let out a huff and leaned his head on her shoulder, making her momentarily tense.

“I don’t like this,” he complained, voice low and grumpy, “it’s weird.”

“This whole situation has been crazy. My whole life,” she laughed almost hysterically, “has been so strange! I’ve seen so many bizarre things.”

Fred clenched his teeth and looked away.

Lizzy frowned. Fred was being so strange now, his emotions were so convoluted and in such turmoil now, it was becoming much harder to read him. The closest she had experienced of him like this before was just before he left her in her Unconcious Mind Space.

“What’s wrong Fred?” She was baffled, never before had she ever needed to ask him that. Fred had always shouted his grievances from the rooftops.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Lizzy blinked, feeling the world fall away. He was sorry? And…by the sounds of it, he meant it to.

“Why? What for?”

“It’s my fault.” He sighed angrily and brushed his hand through already wild red hair, “everything strange you saw as a child was because of me. I was your old imaginary friend and even if I don’t remember it, I know what it probably would have been like; lots of shaved cats and pies in faces.”

She smiled weakly but he didn’t return it. Instead he still looked guilty.

“Everyone I’ve ever been connected with,” he continued, “has suffered in some way. I helped steal children. I didn’t side with Freya and Freyr and go down into Svartalfheimer, instead I went here, to Midgard. And I’ve done nothing but cause more trouble. It’s in my nature. I cause chaos. I was supposed to help you, that was my job, but I made things worse.”

“No Fred,” she turned to sit in front of him and took his hands. It was like that time they sat together on the bed and she remembered when he was locked away by her mother. “No, you protected me as a child. The truth is…a lot of the bad behaviour we got up to was down to me, I wanted to have fun and I kind of wanted the attention. If mother and dad were talking to me or even yelling at me, at least it wasn’t at one another. You cheered me up when I was sad. You built me up when mother tore me down.” She smiled softly, “my childhood is dotted with these bright spots of happy memories where I remember us climbing trees and exploring wild, forgotten gardens. You saved me Fred, truly. You were like, my own scruffy Guardian Angel. Of Chaos.”

He whole time she spoke, he stared at her with such very blue eyes. A beat after she finished, he suddenly beamed at her, so genuinely and so full of warmth she felt her breath catch. There was a moment then. Her heart actually skipped a beat and she felt her face heating as he smiled beatifically at her.

He leaned forward and she stopped breathing altogether.

He stopped suddenly, just before they touched, and said, “thanks Lizzy.” She let out a huff of surprised air as he turned to look out into the corridor, “where’s Annabella?”

“She went to get the others,” her voice was shaky and a little high, so she coughed to try and get it back under control, “then they’re going to dad and Franklin.”

He frowned and looked out the window, “it’s night time now. Aren’t you all tired? It’s passed your bed time.”

She smirked, “everyone is tired and it is bedtime. But when people are stressed out it’s hard to sleep.”

He cocked his head to the side, analysing her, “but you’ll get sick if you don’t sleep. You should sleep. You and Nit-Head.”

“Since when have you been the mature sensible one!” she laughed suddenly, shocked by her own ability to do so after the dreadful day she’d had. Only Fred could do this for her.

He drew himself up haughtily, “well I am right.”

“You are. I’ll go get Nit…Natalie…and bring her to bed. She’ll probably stay with Mickey.”

“Mickey Fart Pants,” he muttered insolently.

“You never took to Mickey,” she sighed, “I wonder why.”

“Because he’s annoying,” Fred responded with a roll of the eyes, “he was probably even worse as a child. All Imaginary Friends are great at working out personalities quickly.”

“Are there lots of Imaginary Friends?”

“Quite a lot yes, but don’t ask too much I don’t remember a lot.”

“That’s ok,” she said quickly, noting he suddenly looked tired again. She bit her lip before tentatively saying, “but they’re all like you?”

“They’re all things that were older, if that’s what you mean.”

“But not elves?”

“I was the only one who changed,” he said quietly, “some went to nature, some were loyal and went to Svartalfheimer.”

“You sound guilty.” She paused, “I’m glad you didn’t go down with the Twins. I know you may not believe this but you owe them nothing. They weren’t nice to you. They were using you.” She gripped his hand tightly, “you’re more than a toy Fred. You’re a good friend and a good person.”

He looked at her, eyes wide and uncertain, “but am I?”

“Yes! Of course you are!”

He took a deep breath before saying meaningfully, “I’m on your side, so you know. The side of humanity.”

“I never doubted that about you Fred.”

There, that look again; the smile that reached the eyes. It was almost shy, another emotion she had never, ever witnessed in him before.

Fred stood up, only to wobble and fall back onto the bed. She gasped and asked if he was ok.

He nodded, furiously red and unable to meet her eyes, “I’m fine Lizzy, god…”

“Sorry,” she smiled, sitting beside him, now on the bed. He looked embarrassed and furious. “It’s ok, it’s because you’ve been through a shock.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Fred said, “I’m remembering more.”

“Of you and me?” she asked, embarrassed by the eagerness in her voice.

He winced and shook his head apologetically, “nothing that recent. Older stuff. It’s giving me a headache.”

She smiled sympathetically and brushed her hand through his hair, “I’m sorry you’re going through this Fred.”

He focused on her face, his expression sedate and serious, “I remember my first child. The first time I became a friend.”

“Really?”

“Mmm, she was from a little village I was attached to. She was called Esther.”

Lizzy smiled, keen to learn something about her strange friend. “What was she like?”

“Shy,” he laughed slightly, and her stomach churned. “She had long black hair and her parents were catholic. She was scared of going to hell. When I first appeared she was scared that I was this pagan thing that was going to doom her.”

“Jesus!”

“I know.” He grimaced, “she was probably a little right though; I was pagan. I just didn’t remember at that point.” He sighed and continued, “she was only seven, and to be that scared at such a young age was pretty horrible. I mainly played tricks on people to make her giggle. Mostly the Priest and her neighbours, this grumpy lady and her son who used to bully Esther. I used to rip clothes of the lines and tip water on people. I’d throw apples at the Priest when he would leave the church. I told her I never went into the church, but I did sometimes.”

“Did she ever see you?”

“Not in there. I wanted to see what it was like.”

“How did you find it?”

“Not that different from the older ceremonies. Just more clothes were involved.”

Lizzy burst out laughing again, almost hysterics that bubbled into giggles. He grinned at her, chuckling now and then.

“Esther was great,” he said when she’d calmed down, “she was my first and I loved her. It was hard to let her go. But she became an adolescent and met a boy. She fell in love and got married. I watched it all.”

“That’s amazing.”

“It took another three generations before I got a friend again.”

Lizzy paused for a while, allowing his comment to sink in. “That’s a long time.”

“Yes.”

“So…when you became Esther’s friend…how long ago was that?”

 “Long, long ago. Back in England.”

“I always wondered why you had an English accent!”

“Now you know,” he grinned, “I haven’t shaken it off yet. Give it a few hundred years here and I’ll sound American.”

 Well, now that was a kicker. There was a beat before, “do you ever get lonely Fred?”

“I did, but I don’t think I do much now. It’s kind of weird,” he pulled a face, “it’s like, one day I was running around having fun with my Friend, but then suddenly the next day something feels off. The child no longer sees me and I suddenly become really, really aware of their age. I don’t see my Friend any more, I see a child.”

Lizzy frowned, “what do you mean?”

“I mean, well, with Esther I was her friend. She was my friend. We were the same. But that day, looking at her, I realised she was a little girl. The relationship shifted. I walked over to her, just for while. She was sitting under the Alder tree talking to a boy who she’d later marry. I remember it was really windy. It was Autumn and the leaves were blowing around in circles around the couple. I walked over and they never turned away from one another and never stopped speaking. She couldn’t see me. She couldn’t even sense me.

“I was happy for her. She was finally strong enough to talk to others, especially boys, and had confidence in herself. But I knew that I had to leave. All the,” he gestured with his hands, trying to express the feeling, “all he energy and craziness was gone. Before I only thought about fun and goodies to eat, but it went away and I just sort of…I dunno. Got quiet in myself again.

“I waited and waited. Flittered between the two worlds. Then one day, the buzzing feeling was back and I was all excited and hey presto, there was Jaqueline, my new Friend.” He smirked at Lizzy, “there, Jaqueline was my second Friend. I’m remembering bit by bit. I’ll get to you eventually I’m sure.”

Lizzy observed him carefully before asking, “and how do you feel now? Bright and fuzzy or quiet in yourself?”

He paused, “I feel quiet again.”

She let out a soft sigh, “and…and are you going to leave us?”

He looked away and looked back, “I’m supposed to. But I can’t. It’s all a bit of a mess.”

Lizzy gulped, “please don’t leave Fred. I lost my mother,” she felt her voice wavering and her vision blurred, “and Mickey isn’t in love with me. Please, please-”

Suddenly she was surrounded by warmth. Long arms wrapped around her and she felt herself resting into a slim chest. She could feel Fred’s heart; it was racing, too fast for any normal human. He was very warm and smelt like a forest- all grass and flowers and sap. She wrapped her arms around his middle, pulling herself closer to him even though that meant she’d heaved herself onto his lap.

“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice raspy and loud in his chest, “I said I was on your side and I meant it. I’m not going anywhere, even if I could.”

Lizzy couldn’t help thinking that if and when all this craziness was over, he’d go away then, and while she knew she’d survive and live a good life without Fred, she realised that she didn’t _want_ to live a life without him. She gripped him tighter, and was surprised when he returned the compliment by doing the same, and desperately tried to commit him and the moment to memory.

 

 


	30. We Need A Tree I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, so some of you know but my mom was sick. It turns out she had cancer. She died suddenly from it a few months ago. So as you can imagine writing this story (and another one in progress for another fandom) has been hard as they're both about death and loss. This one was particularly hard as Lizzy's mom died. I had a good relationship with my mom, so it's different, but still. Anyway, that's why it took so long. This chapter is still a lot of talking (apologies) but action will be happening soon and will be fairly intense once it starts. The next chapter is being polished up and I hope to have it out within a week.
> 
> I know some are concerned with how I've portrayed Janey, so I'm going to try and work on that once the story settles down and that whole saga comes to a head.
> 
> _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
> 
> Last Time: The gang made it to the University, though Polly didn't survive. In the university Fred is hypnotised and sent back to his earlier memories. They learn that a trio of gods, Nerthus and her children Frayr and Freya have been locked in a power play for many years. The gods steal away children as a way to make up for their loss of worship and to keep their power as strong as possible. Eventually the Seer intervened and all the gods were locked away. The various creatures were sent out on new errands. Fred was thrown into the care of children; cursed by Nerthus but given a role by the Seer. Fred remembers some of his human life; namely that he had a mother and sister and that they both died before he could return to them.

In the end, exhaustion won out.

The day had been incredibly difficult for everyone; running from horrors the night previous, dealing with Fred’s personality, fighting off monsters, nearly being eaten by a Sphinx, walking miles through ruined city, losing a member of the team and learning that their entire universe was completely different to how they thought, not to mention the sheer emotional exhaustion of all these different people with all their issues being forced together for so many hours.

Lizzy succumbed first, dropping to sleep against Fred. It hadn’t been her intention, but the day had been long and stressful and Fred had given her one of his rare hugs. He had been so warm it was like being wrapped in a blanket, even if he was thin enough to feel his bones.

Fred hadn’t noticed her sleeping at first, he’d been counting through the Friends that he could just about remember: Esther, then Jacqueline, Susie? Susan? What had been her nick-name?

He frowned. The girls had all begun to vary in their features over time as they began to fall further away from Aenor and the family tree began to split off in multiple directions. The initial plethora of dark haired, pale eyed cousins had spread into blonds and brunets, into those with fiery hair like his own, to skin of brown hues, from straight hair to wild curls, to deep brown eyes… He was certain a few hadn’t been related by blood at all, but adopted into the family. How had he ended up following this particular line to America? Nigel was British, was he the link? And then what of Natalie? She was tenuously linked to Lizzy. He wondered had whatever being or force that decided who his friends were to be, considered Lizzy to be Natalie’s step mother? Fred frowned at that. It would mean Lizzy was supposed to marry Mickey. He guessed it made sense. Mickey had nice hair and was sensible and used grown up words.

They hardly spoke though.

Lizzy and Mickey had rarely exchanged words throughout the day. In fact, he’d seen Mickey talk more to Lizzy’s friends and Lizzy had mostly been quiet. Most of Fred’s Friends were like that, by what he could remember. They would be quiet, like little mice. By the time he became Quiet in Himself again, they were independent and smiling and pretty loud. He must not have done a good job with Lizzy.

He looked down at her to ask how he had fared as he friend and then saw that she was fast asleep. Her skin was soft and her long, dark eyelashes fanned across her cheek. He wondered if they were her real eyelashes, or pretend ones like women sometimes wore. He felt a moment of light awkwardness and wondered if he should wake her but decided against it; sleep was important for humans. They spent most of their lives sleeping. He wrapped an arm around her waist and put the other around her shoulders. He then wriggled down the bed so that the pair of them were laying side by side, he on his back and she on her side facing him.

He stared up at the ceiling, trying not to feel too bad about her being asleep. Now, he had no one to speak to and no one to distract him from his thoughts. It had been nice talking about the past with Lizzy, it hadn’t hurt. It seemed more like, reminiscing over fond memories, rather than remembering a thousand people he’d lost.

Fred had promised Lizzy he was on the side of humanity, but he wasn’t completely sure why. He loved Natalie and he liked Lizzy a lot. He knew there was something there between them but he didn’t know what, he didn’t remember what she did. Perhaps it was all part of the curse, his loyalty to her? Maybe he would be that loyal to all his Friends? He thought of Natalie. He wanted to keep her alive and safe, but the feeling he had for her was not the same as what he had for Lizzy. Even remembering back to Aenor and his mother, he knew his feeling for Lizzy felt old, like his feelings for them, but it was still different. It wasn’t deep, it wasn’t love…it was something else. Something that made his insides queasy and sometimes made him feel flushed and bothered. It was almost a sort of frustration.

He leaned his head to the side, brushing his cheek across the top of her hair. It didn’t feel like a curse, but the best curses never did. The best curses sucker punched you right near the end, right when you thought it was safe. He remembered standing on the hill looking over the moorland that had once been his Germanic home. Gone. He remembered the headstone of Agness Crone.

His stomach churned. That had been one hell of a curse. And maybe, maybe, at some point, this tentative, uncertain semi-friendship with Lizzy was going to sucker punch him.

xxXXxx

Annabella was third to sleep. On leaving Lizzy to see to Fred, she’d gone into the cafeteria to find Janey, Natalie and Mickey listening to a few acoustic musicians. It was a nice atmosphere and it was a shame to pull them away from it.

“Go talk to Franklin and Nigel,” she’d told them, “Fred’s done for the day. Lizzy took him to the bedroom to rest.”

“Is he with her now?” Mickey had asked, a slight frown on his face.

Annabella shrugged, “of course. They’re close.”

“Will Fred be ok?” asked Natalie.

Annabella smiled, determined to be a good person to Natalie. She had been impressed by Natalie’s empathy and bravery throughout their journey, and she also didn’t want to make the same mistakes she had before. Maybe she would never be great with kids, but she sure as shit wasn’t going to be such a mean bitch to them anymore.

“Of course,” she said warmly to the child, “Lizzy is taking care of him. You’ll get to see him first thing tomorrow, when you’ve both had a nice long rest.”

“Is Lizzy gonna spend the whole night with him?” asked Mickey tightly, looking a bit defeated, “or is she coming to see her dad and Franklin too? I mean, we could use everyone being there.”

Annabella sighed, “can I speak to you for a minute?”

Mickey blinked in surprise, “erm, sure.”

They walked away from a curious Natalie and a stunned Janey to a corner near the stairway.

“Um, what’s up?” asked Mickey. He’d never really spoken to Annabella, though Janey spoke highly of her. She was very pretty but she had the sort of snooty air cheerleaders had, and it put him a little on edge. It was the same way Fred had about him; a certain level of confidence that bordered of arrogance, and it threw Mickey off. He’d never been attracted to people like that. He’d always found them annoying or, worse, intimidating.

Annabella was intimidating, especially in the cold way she eyed him now.

“You need to drop the attitude,” she said.

“What?!”

“This attitude,” she reiterated, “acting like the hurt party. Lizzy has done nothing wrong and you know it. Stop pretending to be upset that she doesn’t love you.”

Mickey opened his mouth and gaped silently, unable to understand what he was hearing.

He shut his mouth at last before saying, “look, that’s not what this is all about. I do have issues with Fred, but that’s to do with him and my daughter…”

“What about him and your daughter?!” she had cried in exasperation, “we would have died out there if it wasn’t for him!”

“He put us in danger!” Mickey hit back, “we wouldn’t have been attacked if he hadn’t been around us. I don’t even want to think about that damned necklace he gave to Natalie.” He let out an angry huff before, “he nearly ruined Lizzy’s life before. He caused nothing but destruction. I know because she told me that. He’s a dangerous person, and I don’t want her becoming reliant on him again.”

“I didn’t know Lizzy before,” said Annabella, blue eyes flashing fire, “but I did l know her husband. He was the worst. He always laughed about her, about how timid and scared and mousy she was. How he had her wrapped around his little finger. He said that she was pathetic. She couldn’t hold down a job and she dressed like a child. Even her mother thought she was useless. We both laughed at her for being so dependent and so weak. It was after her supposed mental health breakdown that I met her. Guess what? she looked amazing. That was when she was with Fred.” She stepped closer to Mickey, closing in on him, “she wasn’t reliant on Fred, he helped her when everyone else in the world let her down. You saw how her mom was and it looks like her dad was never around. She needed support and he gave it to her. As for Natalie,” she continued as he opened his mouth ready to talk, silencing him, “you could have given her medication to send Fred away, but you didn’t. And sure, he gave her that necklace but guess what?” She stepped back, holding out her arms, “do you see any other kids here? I saw the monster that took those children,” she dropped her arms, “and I wouldn’t want that for any child. Fred came back to us bloody and dirty; he physically fought a monster to keep us safe, so fuck you Mickey.”

“Look Anna-”

She pointed at him, “you don’t get to make googly eyes at my friend whilst getting pissed off about Fred and Lizzy’s friendship.” She lowered her arm and sighed, “I get that you are a good guy, I’ve seen you with your kid. But you’re being like Polly and you’re being like Charles; you don’t want Lizzy but you won’t let her go. Stop, for your sake and Lizzy’s. Don’t be that person in her life. She’s had enough of those people already.”

She paused, her arms folded. They stood together for a while, Mickey looking at the floor, stunned into silence.

“I’m going to look after Natalie,” Annabella said at last, her voice croaky with emotion, “um, I don’t mind. You and Janey go to Nigel and Franklin. Lizzy and I have worked some stuff out but it can all wait until tomorrow.”

“Um,” he found his voice, it was weak and quiet, “Natalie’s bed time is seven-thirty usually.”

“I’ll keep her up for another half hour or so, then put her in your room to sleep. I think she’s too amped up now, so I’ll wear her out.”

“Oh. Annabella?”

“Yes?”

He took in a small breath before, “thanks.”

She smiled a little, “no problem. See you tomorrow.”

He watched her return to the others, taking Natalie’s hand and saying something to a worried looking Janey. The pair walked away as Janey looked at him with wide eyes.

He smiled lightly in a way that he hoped was convincing. She came to him, “what was that all about?”

“Oh, she’s just putting me in my place about Fred.”

Janey smirked, “good. I like Fred. I mean, he’s a loose cannon but all the best people are.”

He let out a small, delighted laugh, and taking her hand they went upstairs.

 

xxXXxx

Natalie was the second person to fall asleep that night. Whilst daddy and Janey had been talking to the other grown-ups, she helped Annabella and everyone else in the university to paint the walls with symbols of protection. Since finding out that the creatures were supernatural and likely from all over the world, going by Fred’s recount involving the African Trickster Eshu, they’d taken advantage of the diversity within the populace of the University and asked everyone to put up various charms. From Sikh blessings and rosary beads to pagan protection symbols and wiccan spells, the halls of the university were a mesh of different cultures blending together in unison to protect everyone within the university walls.

Natalie liked Annabella. She seemed a bit cold and a bit distant, but she was friendly enough. Natalie could tell that Annabella was trying to be nice. It reminded her of when Fred tried to be nice; it would be awkward and clunky but all the more precious for it.

Everyone who they had worked with that evening had been very kind to Natalie also, looking at her with wide, wondering eyes as if she was some sort of miracle. As she lay in bed, exhausted and aching, she figured that she kind of was.

 _“I’m the only little girl left, maybe in the whole, entire world_ ,” she thought to herself. She hoped the other children came back. It was too sad to think of all those parents without children. Plus, imagine never having anyone to play with! Sure she had Fred, but he was kind of busy nowadays. Also, Natalie had been more curious about playing with other children. Fred was a lot of fun, but sometimes he was such a _boy_ and a bit too much. It’d be nice to have a friend who was a girl, or a bit gentler, or who had other interests. It’d be nice to have a group of friends, Fred included within that.

At first, Natalie had felt guilty feeling this way. But he had given her that talk, before all the strange stuff had happened, which had helped ease her mind, and now she’d seen him with Lizzy and Annabella and her dad, she realised that maybe it really was ok for people to have other friends or even to find new people who were important.

Natalie sighed, unable to sleep despite her tiredness. Too many things were buzzing around her head and now that Fred was in Real Life, she couldn’t just talk to him. In the last few weeks she hadn’t seen much of him at all, but she guessed he was trying to prepare her for life without him.

She pulled out her necklace from under her shirt. The little oval was now a very dark green. It was shiny and mysterious, but still hadn’t done anything bizarre since that day they’d gone to meet Maryanne. It felt warm in her hand, pleasantly so. She liked wearing it for some reason. It was as if it were protecting her. Perhaps that’s why she hadn’t been taken? Maybe the necklace was magic!

She put it close to her eye. She could see shapes within it, but it was too small to make anything out. She put it to her ears and concentrated. She thought…she thought that maybe…maybe…she could hear laughter? The laughter of children?

Frowning, Natalie pulled away and looked at the necklace. She put her fist around it protectively. The necklace was important, she knew that. She was its protector as much as it protected her.

Putting it back into her shirt she snuggled down into bed and finally fell into a much needed sleep.

It was around an hour later that that Janey and Mickey, accompanied by Nigel, slunk back downstairs. Janey seemed completely unsurprised by the events of Fred’s past, where Mickey had been utterly shocked. He supposed that it was all pretty obvious really, but it was so bizarre. The idea that this other world existed and was directly connected to his own, very ordinary life was astounding.

He hugged Janey goodnight before she went into her room. He and Nigel went into another dorm.

Mickey crawled into bed which already housed his daughter. He went on his side and curled around her, feeling protective. To think, she well could be the last child in the whole of America; of the entire world.

Pulling her into a hug, he felt her little hand fisted around something. He gently prized it open, ignoring Nigel who was now already snoring, and saw that she was holding tightly the pendant of the necklace. It was obsidian in the darkness, and felt foreboding somehow. Letting out a sigh, he lay back down, allowing her to curl her fist around it again, and fell asleep, his breathing falling in rhythm to his daughter’s.

xxXXXxx

Fred did not sleep because he could not sleep. Literally. At all.

He lay on the bed blinking up at the ceiling, boredom settling in. He found it was easier to stay still than it had been before. Lizzy lay next to him, her arm draped across his chest and her face tucked into the space between his neck and shoulder. He could feel her soft breath on his neck and suspected that the slight dampness on her shoulder was her drooling.

Fred was familiar with the negative emotions of frustration and anger. He tended to be a bit of a hot-head, kicking and smashing things like an angry poltergeist whenever it all became too much. Usually these emotions were just bursts of orange and red, and soon gave way to the happy comfortableness of being with one of his girls (most recently Natalie) or of bright green and yellow burst of pure joy and excitement.

But that was gone now.

He felt all wrung out. Like a sad, wet cloth.

The feelings of anger and frustration felt like they had gained some sort of weight and had sunk deep inside him. They had evolved into something darker and less tangible.

Fred felt sad.

He wanted to stop the images of his mother and sister. He didn’t want to remember Hrothgar or Ryu from his village. He didn’t want to remember the autumns he spent playing in the leaves with the other tribe children. He didn’t want to remember that he was so, so _old_ and he had been so many things yet nothing at the same time.

He’d been an elf.

He’d be a fey.

He’d been a light elf.

He’d been a Guardian of the forest.

He’d been a Guardian of a child.

Now he was nothing.

He was a ghost. No better than one of the Shades, he was just a shell of something that had once been human. He wanted to be a child again, he wanted his mom and his sister.

 _“I’m not a little kid,”_ he thought, _“but I’m not exactly a grown up either.”_

He pulled himself up, being gentle so not to wake Lizzy. He looked down at her, leaning on one arm. He still didn’t remember Lizzy at all. It seemed all his oldest memories were pulled to the front, but excluding Natalie any recent history was still lost to him. He looked at her. His eyes traced over her short black hair; thick and shiny and dead straight. She had dark eyebrows too, and really long dark eyelashes. Her skin was tanned, but compared to her jet-black hair she looked pale. She was very slim but soft, unlike him. Even still filthy from their hard day, she was still looked like a doll- sort of perfect in a way. He could imagine her as a child, slightly chubbier and with slightly bigger eyes.  He could only assume her childhood hadn’t been happy; none of the children he was sent to ever were. He hadn’t thought much of Polly before her death and Nigel didn’t seem to know how to act around Lizzy.

 _“And now her mom’s dead,”_ he thought, _“just like mine. Her mom was never happy with her, and neither was mine. But Lizzy isn’t useless, not like me.”_

His stomach tensed at the thought of his mother, so he pushed it away. He didn’t want to think about it too much. It’s not like it helped. There was nothing that could be done. But it was annoying. The thought of his mom and sister were like a boomerang, every time he threw them away they kept returning to him.

Fred stood up slowly not to disturb her, and, taking a blanket from the opposite bed, put it over Lizzy. He then went out into the hallway. It was quiet and dark now. Outside the large campus windows he could see a bright, fat moon hung high in the sky. He crept through the halls silently, he could hear the wind outside and the howls of wolves. His people were out and about, stalking through the shadows, just like the old days when they snuck away children or guzzled up offerings of sugar and milk. It was strange, being in both worlds at once.

Fred passed the rooms where he knew the others were waiting. He paused. “ _I’ll have to try to protect them,_ ” he thought, _“all of them, from the scary things that are out there.”_ After all, he knew how bad the Things outside could be.

He continued on, going out into the main hall where they’d first arrived. All over the walls were sacred writings in paint. It smelt of incense and other protective herbs. The humans had remembered their roots quickly, bringing back all the old ways of protecting themselves. On the floor around the wall that separated them from the outside was a long line of salt.

He smiled softly.

Fred walked up to the front doors and carefully opened them, making sure to keep the line of salt intact.

Outside, bowls of sugar and milk had been laid out in small bowls. It was all good, but Fred knew it wasn’t enough. If someone like Nerthus attacked, no amount of salt and sugar was going to stop her.

In front the Sphinx passed back and forth, a soft growl coming from her lips now and then.

He stood beside her, feeling a kindship with her.

 **Oh please,** she said with a sneer, **we are not kin.**

“You can read my thoughts?” asked Fred.

She stared forwards, not answering an obvious question. He sat down next to her, “I’m all alone,” he said, “it’s nice to meet something that is almost like me. Not human or from Midgard.”

**You are from Midgard.**

He blinked and looked up at her, “you can tell?”

 **The stench of humanity still clings to you. The Light elves never really let go. The dark elves** , she grinned, her teeth sharp and needle-like, **they are closer to being my kin than you.**

“Are there many out there?” he asked, looking into the darkness.

**You would know that answer better than I.**

“I don’t really know much of anything.”

**You know so much that it’s made you deaf, blind and dumb. It has overwhelmed you like a wave. Humans were never supposed to exist for so long.**

“I’m dead, really,” he said, “Dead Fred. Fred who won’t drop dead.”

**Be careful for what you wish for.**

He felt a small jolt go through him before he looked at her, “I didn’t wish for anything.”

**Did you not?**

xxXXxx

Lizzy was dreaming.

The sun was shining and warm on her skin. She was walking down the street of her old neighbourhood. She turned down the path into a cul-de-sac and followed it all the way around until she reached an old house. It was boarded up, like it’s eyes and mouth had been shuttered. She had been scared of this house for a little while as a small girl. But then her friend had made her feel confident again.

She smiled and walked around the house, climbing through a hole in the fence to enter into the garden. Fred liked places like this; outside places where the grass was long and there was at least one tree, where all the wild animals would live. He was always his calmest in the wildest settings.

And there he was sitting in the long grass with Natalie facing him. Fred was cross legged, Natalie was lying on her front, her little legs kicking up in the air. It looked like Fred was making a daisy chain. Fred was fantastic at making those, which was funny because he was a boy, but he wove with quick and clever fingers where Lizzy would always accidentally tear the delicate stems.

“It meant everyone,” Fred was saying as he focused on the flowers in front of him, “had something that was theirs.”

 _“I know this story,”_ she thought. But the knowledge of this memory was uncertain, as she couldn’t quite remember the story or her memory surrounding the story and her thoughts seemed like water, running through her fingers and escaping her.

 _“Oh, poor Fred,”_ she thought suddenly, “ _poor Fred…”_

“Where did they live?” Natalie was asking.

“Who?”

“The King and Queen,” she said, “the King and Queen from the story. Where did they live?”

“In a place that you can’t get to but it’s always right beside you.”

Natalie wrinkled up her nose at his uncharacteristic crypticness. “What? I mean, were they in a big castle?”

He laughed and stood, placing the ornate flower chain (crown really, more than a chain) onto her head. “Castles are boring,” he declared with loud, obnoxious certainty, “they lived somewhere better than that! They lived,” he got down on one knee and drew himself closer to her for dramatic effect, “in a tree,” he bounced back up onto his feet, gesturing wildly as he cried, “the biggest tree you’ve ever seen! A ginormous tree! And we all would play in it day after day! All the kids! And they were in charge of it all!”

“Did you know them?” asked Natalie, getting to her feet. She was excited, her eyes large with his admission.

“I did!” he cried, in full hyperactive mode, “because you’re the Queen, and I’m the King!!”

He picked up what looked like a small black rock. “Here’s the seed,” he said, focusing on the rock, “now we need to plant it and it’ll become our wonderful home.”

Natalie looked about until she found somewhere they deemed suitable. Once that was done they worked together to bury the rock in the ground, covering it with mud and grass.

“Now we need it to grow!”

The pair began to dance around the spot they’d made chanting, ‘grow tree grow, grow tree grow!’ … and her dream shifted.

Suddenly, she was a little girl again and she was in a large tree; specifically, she was cautiously standing on a thick branch partway up the tree that used to be in her back garden. All around her was the shinning green light of leaves illuminated by the sun. She could hear the buzzing of bees and the hum of a far-off lawnmower.

“Wow,” she heard herself saying in her childhood voice, “you’re really good at climbing Fred!”

Fred was above her in the tree. He looked comfortable and confident. He looked down at her and beamed. For a moment her breath caught in her throat. He didn’t look human, he looked more than that. He was something wild and old and strange.

“I grew up in trees,” he smiled.

Lizzy awoke.

The room was dark but she could hear someone rustling about in the room. She sat up, “Fred?”

“Just me,” whispered Annabella, who was climbing into some bed clothes, “sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you. I just put Natalie to bed. Janey and Mickey are upstairs with the Professor and your dad.”

Lizzy looked at the clock beside her bed. It was 10:45.

“It’s late.”

“Yeah,” Annabella crawled into bed, “everyone is exhausted. It’s been a hell of a day.”

“Yeah…”

“Where’s Fred?”

Lizzy looked up and then instinctively to her side where he’d been lying against her before, “I…um… I dunno. I’ll go look for him.”

“No, Lizzy,” Annabella sat up, “look it’s late. You’ve had a really, really tough day. You need sleep. Fred’s fine. He could go outside and be fine where the rest of us would be killed. I mean, does he even sleep?”

“He said he doesn’t.” Lizzy thought for a moment, but then shook her head, “No, I’ll go,” she insisted, “I slept earlier so I feel ok. I’ll be back ok?”

“Ok,” sighed Annabella, clearly not on board but too exhausted to argue, “night.”

“Night Anna.”

She walked out into the hallway, taking in the same bright moon that Fred had on leaving.

Where could he have gone? Maybe he was bored, lying around with her.

She felt herself blushing slightly, embarrassed that she had fallen asleep around him like that. She should have stayed up and listened to him. Did he think she was rude? No, that’s not Fred’s style. She thought about the nature of the evening. Were they friends now? She wanted them to be, she truly did. This Fred was different from the one she knew; he was more wild but felt more deeply. She could only assume it was due to the great shift in their relationship and due to her being older. Perhaps she hadn’t noticed before because first she had been only a child and then she had been so wrapped up in her own troubles. The idea that Fred was an entity in his own right wasn’t something that shocked her, but the degree of his independence was. For her, seeing Fred had been akin to seeing a ghost; a supernatural event but not too far removed from reality. But since the children began to go missing, she had come to recognise a whole new universe existed right beside her own. And, besides all the wonder of that, the most important thing was knowing Fred.

She and Mickey weren’t working out and was more of an obligation now. She had no connection to her father. Janey was still a friend but it wasn’t the same. The connection with Fred was something stronger and older and deeper.

Lizzy walked into the Entrance Hall. Symbols were painted all over the walls. Incense and other herbs could be smelt softly burning. A few candles had been left out also, gently lighting to area just a little, not enough to attract outside attention. The place looked magical, bordering on frightening. She paused, taking in the scene. This was his world invading hers (again) and she wondered if he would go away. It was a fear that gnawed at her all day, and then she had lost her mother. It was like the Universe had punished her for focusing too much on him and not enough on others. That was her habit. Before she’d damned near killed Fred because she was so focussed on Charles. She had forgiven herself, and was sure he had forgiven her also, but on seeing him in the real world and seeing he could be hurt and remembering the strange white strip of hair near the nape of his neck had made her feel guilty all over again. The stakes were higher than she ever could have known. People she loved could die. Fred could be hurt. Fred truly could leave her one day.

She looked at the large glass doors and for a moment her heart leapt into her throat on seeing Fred outside. The Sphinx was next to him and it seemed that Fred was talking to it.

As her pulse began to calm back down she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. _Of course_ Fred would be outside, where all the danger was, having a conversation with a violent monster.

She was about to go marching up to him when suddenly the image of her mother flashed into her mind. Her mother, broken and still and bloodied.

Lizzy halted.

It was dangerous outside. Dangerous for a human.

She felt her confidence curling up inside her, shrinking away. The image of her mother from earlier that evening kept playing on a loop. It wouldn’t go away.

Lizzy put her hand to her forehead, feeling stressed and a little ill. “ _OK,”_ she thought, trying to control her breathing, _“please stop. Please! Remembering doesn’t help.”_

“Remembering doesn’t help,” Fred complained outside to the Sphinx. “I don’t know why they made me do it. They should have made me. I hate this.” He kicked a stone grumpily, watching it bounce down the university steps before being swallowed up by the darkness.

In the distance, there was an explosion before the smell of burning reached them. It was probably the other Light Elves, causing havoc and ruin now they were let loose.

He frowned, realising something.

“Why did the Twins let them loose?” he asked. “Did they send me here too, or was I with Natalie?”

He frowned, thinking over the last 24 hours.

The sound of a fast heartbeat caught his attention. He turned and saw Lizzy standing inside the university. She looked tearful and scared. Without thinking he Faded and in a second was right beside her.

“What’s wrong Snotface?”

 _Oh gods why did I say that?_ He suddenly panicked, his blue eyes wide. What does it even mean? And why say that to someone upset!

Lizzy looked up at him, brown eyes as wide as his own. And to his shock, she let out a laugh, “’Snotface?’” she repeated, “you used to call me that when I was a child?”

“I did?” his panic subsiding slightly.

“Yes, back when you were,” (mine,) “my Imaginary Friend. Um, ‘imaginary’ in inverted commas.”

He grinned and she couldn’t help respond in the same way. He had the sweetest grin, even when being at his very worst.

“How do you do that Fred?” she asked breathlessly, her heart rate still fast.

“Do what?”

“Just pop up out of nowhere. You did it all the time when we were children. I always wondered how.”

He smirked, “it’s just a party trick. I sort of just…think of being somewhere, and then I’m there. It took practice, I used to run and Fade at first but now I just do it.”

“Fade?”

“Yeah, from one place to the other.”

“Huh…”

There was a beat before Fred remembered, “I need to ask you something. Was I with Natalie when everything,” he waved his arms around, “changed.”

“No.” She thought back to the last few weeks, “in fact, you hadn’t been with her much at all recently. But,” she paused awkwardly before continuing, “you said that you feel quieter when you are no longer a Friend, and you’re feeling quiet again now. So, maybe you aren’t are her Friend anymore.”

“Maybe,” he muttered, “but when did you see me? When did I join the group?”

“Today. Have you already forgotten?”

He scowled and she immediately felt bad. “Sorry Fred, um, we bumped into you sometime this morning. You were ripping apart a car. In fact… you didn’t even remember Natalie. Not at first. You tried to…”

She paused.

“I tried to what?”

“You tried to take her,” whispered Lizzy, looking around in case someone was listening and stepping in closer to him, “you tried to steal her from us.”

They stood still for a moment, facing each other. Outside there was another distance boom as flames rose up into the blackness of the night sky.

“You said,” began Lizzy again, “that you stole on behalf of the Twins. Have…have you been the ones stealing the children?” She paused again, taking in Fred, thinking about how little she knew him and how inscrutable he actually was.

She looked up into his dark blue eyes and saw he looked as confused and concerned as she was.

“Have you been stealing the children Fred?”


	31. We Need A Tree II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story will be longer than predicted. Sorry! Also, shorter chapter (only around 2000 words). I've done a few callbacks; to two other one-shots I wrote about Lizzy and Fred during the childhood years, to early chapters and to the film.

** We need a tree Part II **

“Have you been stealing the children Fred?”

His heart, always too fast for any normal human being, was beating at a lightening pace now. He tried to remember. Where had he been all these weeks? He wasn’t with Natalie as much as he should have been, he knew because he remembered she had called him and he hadn’t answered. What had he been doing? Why hadn’t he been with her when things changed? Why had he forgotten her? Almost as if he had been sent back to Midgard a blank slate, which is often what the Twins liked to do to him…

“Maybe,” he answered at last, “I think… I think I was doing something.” He remembered standing under a tree in the Otherworld. He remembered he was surrounded by the last few Light Elves. It had been raining and storming, which never happened in that realm. He remembered running. He remembered the screech of angry birds behind him…

“I was planning something,” he said, looking down at Lizzy, “but I don’t remember. It wasn’t bad,” he added this hurriedly, feeling defensive, “I’m not bad.”

“No,” she breathed out, before saying with more confidence than he, “no you’re not bad. I’ve always believed that Fred. You’re many things, but bad or wicked are not among them.”

 _‘How can you be so sure of that?’_ Fred thought, _‘how can you be so confident I’m the good guy?’_

“Fred, Annabella and I were talking earlier. We think that maybe Nerthus has been stealing children for years. Is it possible you’ve been doing that, without realizing it?”

He shook his head emphatically, “I belong to the Twins and I obey the Seer. I protect human children in their name; it’s enough to keep the Twins alive but not free.” He thought for a moment before continuing triumphantly, “I can prove it too. The Jungfrauenadler worked for Nerthus and they attacked me.”

The memory of a broken Mother flashed in her mind for a second again but Lizzy brushed it away expertly. She looked over Fred. Like herself he hadn’t washed and still bore all the marks of their day. Unlike most of them, he was covered in blood. He had been attacked the most that day.

“Ok,” she breathed, “but why is she so angry with you? Because you have the children?”

“No idea. I’m just doing the duty of the Seer.”

Lizzy paused at that, not sure how true that was. She took Fred in, a wild thing dressed as a child but that looked like a man. Bloody, his clothes torn, blue eyes too wild and a mess of red hair. Lizzy knew he was kind and funny, that there was a layer of goodness in him. But, in her heart of hearts, she also knew that Fred was a well of secrets. She could never truly know his intentions because she didn’t know the intentions of his Masters or _who_ they were.

“And you don’t know where the Seer is?” she asked at last.

Fred shook his head.

“Where would you take the children? If you have stolen them?”

He shrugged, “anywhere safe.”

“But where is safe?” she asked, becoming frustrated. She knew Fred could only speak in half-truths due to barely being able to remember anything but getting information was like getting blood from a stone.

He didn’t answer, only frowned and seemed to be thinking hard. As he did, she found her gaze going back to the large window. She could see the Sphinx prowling again, weaving between the bike rack and the two large trees on the far right.

Two trees.

Trees.

“Fred,” she muttered, “where did the King and Queen live?”

“What?”

She blinked, “the twins and the other elves, where did you all live? Where did you take the stolen children when you were an elf?”

“Alfheimer.”

“Of course,” she breathed, remembering his story, “Alfheimer. You took them there and they changed, they became what you are now.”

He watched her, neither denying nor confirming.

“Can you go back there?” she asked, “and check to see if the children are there?”

And it was in that moment that Fred remembered something. It was a piece of knowledge that had ebbed and flowed on the shore of his consciousness throughout the day. With her question, he remembered again. He blinked and took in a deep breath of surprise.

Fred looked down at Lizzy who was watching him carefully. What should he do?

“Fred?” she scowled, taking in his guilty look. She recognized that expression, it was a less exaggerated version of one he often pulled when he was a child with her and when he’d done something very bad. “Fred, you must tell me. Tell me the truth.”

He jerked away from her, a slight frown on his face. He was confused about whether he should say something, and he hated that she spoke to him like a child at times.

Lizzy felt her insides grow cold. Fred unwittingly keeping a huge part of himself a secret from her was something she could just about take, but him purposely keeping a secret?

“We’re friends,” she gasped, the hurt of betrayal in her voice.

“I don’t remember you,” he muttered, eyeing her cautiously.

Well that stung.

 “We’ve become friends, in the time from when we travelled here to that moment where we sat together in bed,” she looked determined, her jaw set and she stepped closer to him, closing the space he’d created, “tell me what you are keeping secret.”

“I was taking the children,” he answered, his voice barely above a whisper, “and Natalie was one of them to be taken, right at the end. But I got distracted during my work. So she still…she has a necklace.”

“The necklace, that’s no surprise. We knew it was magic after we took it to a woman called Marianne. She was some sort of wiccan. What does it do Fred?”

“It’s not what it does. It’s what it is.” He took her hand. “I can take you to the children, but if I do, I don’t know what else that will bring. I don’t know what the fall out will be.”

She looked at their clasped hands before looking back up at his face, “are you scared Fred?”

He let a ghost of a smile on his lips for a second, before looking down the dark hallway where the bedrooms lay, “I think I’ve been scared for a long time.”

She tightened her grip, bringing his attention back to her, “you’ve been alone for a long time. But not anymore. I’m here. Let’s go and get that necklace.”

He nodded, and together they made their way back down towards the dormitories.

xxXXxx

 _‘I should get the others,’_ thought Lizzy, _‘I shouldn’t do this on my own. I can’t do it alone.’_

But the warm, almost hot, hand of Fred was a strength to her. She trusted Fred, despite his nature and despite all that had happened. The truth was that she didn’t have that level of connection to anyone else. She had always felt distant from Mickey. They had never truly gelled, for all of his love of her and his talk of how much he appreciated her, she knew that a lot of the admiration he had for her was actually for Fred. It was Fred’s wild and unpredictable behavior that had attracted Mickey. On her own, she hadn’t been enough for him. The thing was, she didn’t resent him for that. Mickey just happened to fall in love with a person who wasn’t quite what he thought she was. It had been an error. They should have split earlier, but they never did. She didn’t know why Mickey had held on to her so stubbornly but she knew why she stayed with him., It was perhaps why she didn’t feel so bad about him falling in love with someone else in front of her.

The minute she had seen Natalie pinky-swearing with an invisible hand, she had known. Fred’s presence had always been with her; whether as her Friend, locked in a box, or haunting the child of her lover, he’d always been there. And she had put herself as close as she could to him as possible. He had become something that she couldn’t access but was always beside her, silent and invisible.

As they walked down the hallway together she realized that some of the resentment she had felt that day had been from sharing him with everyone else. For years she had Fred to herself alone. She had even been a bit jealous of Natalie, as pathetic as that was.

She had acknowledged all this on their journey to the University, but it was during she and Fred’s silent walk down a dark corridor that she understood how far her attachment to him was. How even though _every_ child was supposed to let Fred go, she never did. Maybe it was because her mother interrupted her relationship with him. Like some sort of Freudian developmental step, she had skipped a piece. And now she had an unhealthy attachment to it. She moved her fingers slightly, feeling his against hers. His hand was much bigger than hers, due to him being so much taller generally she supposed. It’s funny, when she had been a kid he hadn’t seemed so tall, it was something she had only been aware of as an adult. His fingers were long and slim, like the rest of him, and surprisingly rough. She guessed it was due to all that tree climbing and roughhousing. She imagined his body generally was littered with little nicks and scars from having a thousand or so years of tumbling about like an excitable boy.

They got to the room where Mickey, Natalie and Nigel were staying.

“Wait here,” muttered Fred.

She felt his hand move away and as she looked up at him, she realized he was gone.

In the bedroom, Fred was crouched by the side of the bed. The curtains were open, the light of the moon and distant fires lighting up the faces of Mickey and Natalie. Looking at them both Fred realized how alike their features were. He still thought Natalie was much cuter. He stared at Mickey. He did not like Mickey. He could tell that he never had. He wasn’t a bad man. And it wasn’t that he had to share Lizzy when they had been young, Fred had never been jealous of his early wards friends or lovers, so why would he be of Lizzy?

 _‘At least he knows how to be an adult,’_ a nasty little voice in his mind, one which sounded like Nerthus said to him, _‘at least he isn’t stuck as a baby, not like you.’_

He blinked and looked away, feeling self-conscious suddenly. It was a new emotion, and he didn’t like it. His mother never got to see him grow up. She had probably worried that he’d stay a young, stupid child mocking the gods all his life and she was right. He had lived hundreds and hundreds of years but he was still a stupid, over-excited puppy who could barely hold a single thought together. Would Aenor be disappointed in him also? Like Lizzy, she had always seen the best of him. But he let her down. He died, sort of, and then she had been all alone. She died in a foreign country, made pregnant by a no-gooder who abandoned her and then died, old and mad. He closed his eyes, feeling an unfamiliar prickling. He didn’t want to think about what that feeling meant.

Leaning back up after recovering himself, he slowly took the necklace off from over Natalie’s head. The talisman was tight in her hand. He touched her closed fist lightly, and she let go.

He stood holding the necklace. Without it, she no longer had any protection from Nerthus. But the building was pretty protected, so did he need to worry?

Thinking for a moment, he summoned up a small measure of magic into a small green ball and placed it on her head. In his head, he heard the rhythmic _clack, clack, clack_ of his old Priestesses.

“Hide from Nerthus,

“Protection from Shades,

“I cast this spell,

“To last an age.

“Anoint the head,

“Of this young girl,

“To save her from,

“The evils of both worlds.”

The spell wouldn’t be strong, he didn’t have enough magic to save her from a goddess. But he had enough to do a little, to keep her somewhat safe. He leaned back up, feeling a little dizzy, and looked at Mickey again. He hoped her father would be able to do what many other parents couldn’t.

Fred appeared beside Lizzy and nearly fell over.

“Are you all right?” she gasped.

“Fine,” he muttered, “yeah fine, here look,” he showed her the necklace.

She took it into her hand and analysed the best she could in the darkness. “It feels warm,” she stated.

“We need to bury it.”

“Like a seed?”

“Like a seed.”

Lizzy felt anxious about going outside, but what else could they do? The campus had a small garden in the middle of the building, sort of like an orchard area where students could study in the summer.

Stepping outside she took in the sharp, cool air. The smell of fire was strong, merging in with the natural scents of the garden. The crickets and cicadas were loud and obnoxious. Fred found himself grinning. He loved this atmosphere and having the distinct feeling of doing something _naughty_. Shouldn’t the others be here?

The selected a place in the middle of the garden. They took a small piece of wood each and began to dig a small hole in the ground. Lizzy couldn’t help feeling a sense of de ja vu.

At exactly midnight, not that either Fred nor Lizzy noticed, they decided the hole was deep enough. Taking the necklace, they placed it gently in the ground and then covered it over. They stood, looking at the ground in unison.

Fred looked up at her and gave her a mischievous look; eyes peering from under his brows and a wicked half smile, “all we need now is a tree.”

She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. _“Grow tree, grow!”_ began to sing in her mind, _“grow tree, grow! Grow tree, grow!”_

Fred watched her, amazed.

He stepped back as a tree, specifically the tree of Alfheimer, began to grow out of the patch of mud. Green light, the light of the Light Elves, burst out of its branches. The lights shone out, lighting up the hallways of the University and waking everyone up. It shone up into the skies and howls of the beasts of the city could be heard.

“Uh oh,” said Fred stupidly before falling about laughing because he just couldn’t help it.

Janey and the others were woken, if not by the light then by the calls of the mythical creatures.

“What the hell?” muttered Annabella, pulling on her jeans before running out of the dorm room after Janey. They met the others, Mickey holding Natalie, all running down the hallways to go into the garden area.

Hoards of other people were waking up also, most staring out of the windows in utter shock.

“Daddy,” said Natalie quietly, “I feel strange.”

He didn’t hear her. The calls of the creatures were too loud as were the gasps and cries of people around them.

Natalie looked at her hands. She felt…invincible.

They all ran outside.

Fred and Lizzy were standing together in front of the biggest tree any of them had ever seen,

“Fred!” cried Nigel running up to them, the others just behind him, “stop this magic!”

“It’s not me,” Fred turned to them, grinning wickedly, “it’s Lizzy!”

They turned from a delighted Fred to see Lizzy, her hands on her temples, eyes closed in concentration.

Nigel gaped, “L-Lizzy…?”

The light died down slightly and tree did one last twist before shuddering to a halt. It was finished., It was fully grown.

Opening her eyes, Lizzy stared at her creation.

“Well done,” laughed Fred, “I couldn’t have done better myself.”

She smiled at him before seeing that the others were all standing there. They looked shocked and even a bit dismayed. She suddenly felt self-conscious.

“I did it once before,” she explained, without understanding why, “made a tree. But, it was somewhere else…I don’t know. You had liked that one as well, even though it hadn’t been as big as this one.”

Janey came up to her and held her hands, “but honey, why?” She looked at the tree, “why did you make this? What is it?”

“Yggdrasil.”

They all turned to the voice. It was Franklin. He should have looked ridiculous standing there in his boxer shorts and what looked like an old T-shirt with a few small holes in it. But everything was just a bit too bizarre in that moment for anyone to notice.

“The Tree of Life,” he continued, “the passageway, the…connection…between all the worlds beside our own.”

“Listen,” said Natalie, “can you hear it?”

They all fell silent. There was still the noise of the creatures, the shocked conversations of the watching crowds still mostly in the university building due to the lack of space in the garden and the fear many now had of going outside. But beneath all that was a distinct sound.

The sound of children laughing and playing.

Janey, being the bravest, walked slowly to the tree before putting her ear to it. She pulled back sharply.

“My god,” she sputtered, “they’re in the tree!”

 

 


End file.
